While Brazil has long been seen as a global model in
the fight against AIDS, activists and officials say more and more youths are unaware
of HIV risks, or are unconcerned about them. Even as HIV infection rates have
begun declining in many other places, cases have been slowly rising in Brazil —
with the sharpest jump among youths 15 to 24, according to AP.
"The numbers are going up. It's a paradox, a
shame. After all the money spent on treatment and implementing a policy for
everyone to receive it, we have these disastrous results," said Dr. Caio
Rosenthal, a Sao Paulo-based specialist at the Emilio Ribas Institute of
Infectious Diseases.
U.N. statistics show 44,000 new infections detected
last year in Brazil, up from fewer than 40,000 in 2005 — a rate outpacing
population growth. The national Health Ministry says overall numbers of HIV
infections has reached nearly 800,000. That's half of all the HIV cases in all
of Latin America. By
comparison, in the United States, the rate of new HIV cases has dropped by a
third over the past decade, according to a study published last month in the
Journal of the American Medical Association. About 1.1 million Americans are
estimated to be infected with HIV.
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