According to Dr. Victor Manuel Terrero, director of the National Council for HIV and AIDS (CONAVIHSIDA), the sugarcane growing areas in the provinces of Independencia, Bahoruco and Barahona are registering the highest number of cases of people infected with HIV/AIDS.
He said that at national level 0.8% of the population is infected, around 43,000 people, but in the southwest the figure is 0.9%, due to the higher levels in the settlements in the sugar cane areas in Independencia, Bahoruco and Barahona where there is a 3.2% HIV/AIDS infection rate.
He went on to say that he had been to Batey 6, Batey 5, Batey 4, Neiba and the communities around Lake Enriquillo and had seen that the situation was very hard, where there were human beings dying and the family hoping to bury them without telling anyone.
He said that the poverty levels experienced by the Dominicans, Haitian-Dominicans and Haitians living in the sugarcane areas was a contributing factor to the spread of the disease.
He also said that there were also many cases of malaria in the agricultural areas due to the arrival of Haitian laborers during the cane-cutting season. He concluded by saying that Malaria, HIV/AIDS and TB are all very common in the Enriquillo area.
www.hoy.com.do/provincias/2013/4/17/476208/Zona-canera-es-donde-viven-mas-personas-con-VIH-se-cree-en-el-pais-hay-43