New York Times Examines Caribbean AIDS Epidemic ‘Overshadowed’ by African AIDS Crisis

The New York Times yesterday examined the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean, which has the second-highest HIV prevalence rate after sub-Saharan Africa. According to some estimates, approximately 2.4% of the adult population in the region is HIV-positive, but the World Bank has estimated that the prevalence rate could be as high as 12% among adults in some urban areas of the Caribbean. Although the "sheer scale" of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa has "overshadowed" the Caribbean epidemic, health experts and political leaders have cautioned that the region, which is made up of small, "image-conscious" countries that are dependant on tourism and a limited pool of labor and resources, has the "potential for devastation," according to the Times (Gonzalez, New York Times, 5/18). The complete article is available online.