The Ministry of Health has released a copy of the official Annual HIV Statistical Report 2016. On the bright side, the report shows a decreasing number of new infections and ZERO HIV positive mother-to-child transmissions of the 35 babies born last year to infected mothers. That number indicates that the Ministry’s HIV Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission strategies are working.
Here is a highlight of the HIV?AIDS Statistic for Belize in 2016:
* There were nine (9) fewer cases that in 2015 (a tie with new cases reported in 2014)
* Two (2) of every three (3) persons who tested positive for the sexually transmitted infection were males
* Belize District had the highest numbers of new cases (67 males and 59 females diagnosed with HIV
* Toledo District had the lowest number of new HIV cases (6 males and 4 females)
* Orange Walk, which had 9 males and 6 female
* Corozal which had 10 males and 5 females
* Stann Creek had 10 males and 11 females
* Cayo had the second highest numbers with 16 males and 21 females
* 225 new HIV cases represent 0.7% of the 32,635 persons who got tested in 2016
* There are 3,665 persons living with HIV in Belize
* 1,353 of those persons are receiving anti-retroviral drugs
* 104 persons died last year from HIV related conditions.
* 35 cases of HIV reported among pregnant women in 2016 (14 of those cases were new infections)
* 35 babies were born to HIV positive mothers (none of them were infected with HIV)
The Preface, “The HIV Surveillance Report is published annually by the National HIV/AIDS program, Epidemiology Unit, Ministry of Health, Belmopan. HIV data presented here is from the HIV case-based surveillance system for the period January to December 2016. Rates were calculated using the Belize Postcensal Estimates 2010-2020 of the Statistical Institute of Belize.”
See link here for a copy of the Report: http://health.gov.bz/www/publications/hivaids/955-annual-hiv-statistical-report-2016
