The director of the National Council for Victims of HIV and AIDS (Conavihsida), Victor Terrero says that women should demand that their partners use condoms to put a halt to the feminization of the spread of HIV and AIDS in the country. “We are concerned about the increase of cases of HIV among women, especially among young women and encourage them to demand that their partners, whether permanent or occasional, use condoms,” said Terrero, in a message on the occasion of International Women’s Day, today, Friday 8 March.
He said that official statistics show that 43,945 people in the country are living with HIV/AIDS, of whom 25,230 are women and 18,715 are men. He said in the past the statistics were four men to one woman, but this is no longer the case. “This means we are backtracking in the vulnerability of women,” he said. He said that using condoms is one way of preventing the disease from being transmitted through sexual contact.
Terrero commented that in addition to women’s vulnerability to HIV, there has been an increase in gender violence, teenage pregnancy at 20.6% and high rates of maternal mortality, at 140 women per 100,000 pregnant women. He said the high mortality rate questions the standard of care especially as almost all births occur in hospitals.
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2013/03/07/i374240_republica-dominicana-hay-mas-mujeres-que-hombres-con-vih.html