May 25, 2007

Haiti DHS Finds More Than 2 Percent of Haitians are HIV Positive

Outside of Sub-Saharan Africa, Haiti is one of the countries most affected by AIDS.  Most Haitians have never been tested.

Calverton, MD - According to the new Haiti Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), 2.2 percent of Haitians are HIV-positive, the highest rate in the world outside Sub-Saharan Africa.

The 2005-2006 Enquête Mortalité, Morbidité, et Utilisation des Services IV (EMMUS-IV), the fourth DHS survey in Haiti, is based on a nationally representative sample of 10,757 women and 4,958 men. Blood samples were taken from the surveyed men and women, allowing researchers to calculate the percentage of the population infected with HIV for the first time on a national level.  

Women are slightly more likely to be infected than men (2.3 percent compared to 2.0 percent) and the prevalence rate is higher in urban areas (2.3 percent) than rural areas (2.0 percent). Prevalence also varies regionally, ranging from 1.4 percent in the South East and 1.6 percent in Center and Grande Anse, to 3.0 percent in Nippes.

Divorced or separated men and women have a higher prevalence, at 3.5 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively. As seen in other countries, the rate of infection increases with the number of sexual partners a person has during their lifetime.

The EMMUS-IV collected HIV/AIDS data on all women aged 15 to 50 and all men aged 15 to 60 years old, nationwide.  In the past, HIV prevalence in Haiti was estimated based on data collected only from pregnant women during their visits to prenatal clinics. This process is known as sentinel surveillance.

The DHS methodology also allows an analysis of the prevalence rate based on a number of variables, such as knowledge of AIDS, attitudes towards people living with HIV, and sexual behavior.   

The EMMUS-IV survey found a general lack of knowledge of the ways to avoid transmission of HIV.  Only 68 percent of women and 77 percent of men know that AIDS cannot be transmitted by supernatural means; and half of men and women know that you cannot be infected with HIV by a mosquito bite. Two thirds of men and women do not know that mother to child transmission of HIV can be reduced by taking special medicines during pregnancy.

Most troubling, the majority of the Haitian population (81 percent of women and 89 percent of men) stated that they have never taken an HIV test, and thus do not know their seroprevalence status.  Even during prenatal visits, only 20 percent of pregnant women have been counseled about AIDS, taken an HIV test, and received the results.

The EMMUS-IV survey was commissioned the Haiti Ministry of Health (Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population, MSPP), with assistance from Macro International, Inc. It was implemented with the cooperation of the Haitian Institute of Statistics (l’Institut Haïtien de Statistique, IHSI), and the institute for Infection Disease and Reproductive Health (l’Institut des Maladies Infectieuses et de la Santé de la Reproduction, IMIS/GHESKIO), and benefited from the financial support of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief,  the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Canadian international Development Agency, the Sogebank Foundation/World Bank, UNICEF, and UNFPA.

MEASURE DHS
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