United States Department of State

Dominican Republic Operational Plan Report Fy 2013 United States Department of State

Publisher Marketing: The Dominican Republic (DR), with a population of 9.7 million (2010 census), shares the Island of Hispaniola with Haiti. The DR has an HIV seroprevalence of 0.8% (DHS/2007), slightly lower than the 1.0% from DHS/2002. New seroprevalence estimates from the 2013 DHS should be available by the end of 2014. The epidemic is largely driven by heterosexual practices, including multiple partners and transactional sex. However, men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender, and male and female commercial sex workers (CSW) exhibit higher seroprevalence than the national level. Additionally, drug users (DU), residents of Bateyes and women with fewer than four years of formal education have higher rates than the general population. UNAIDS and the Ministry of Health (2011) estimate that in 2012 nearly 44,000 persons (adults and children) were living with HIV and approximately 1700 deaths were attributable to AIDS. Ministry of Health (MOH) data (December, 2012) indicate that 21,579 persons (20,496 adults and 1083 children) are on antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, an increase of over 2100 persons (11%) since November, 2011. Current data on key populations (KPs) are limited. However, in 2012 the GODR and PEPFAR supported several critical data collection efforts, including a DHS, with data collection to begin in July 2013 and an updated Behavioral Surveillance Survey (BSS). PEPFAR is also planning a mapping exercise to target interventions. The 2008 BSS estimated HIV seroprevalence among CSW to be between 3.3% and 8.4%; among MSM between 5.1% to 7.6%; and among DU (injecting and non-injecting) between 5.1% to 13.7%. A secondary analysis of the 2007 DHS revealed HIV seroprevalence among Haitians resident in the DR to be about 6.5%. Sexual initiation occurs at a young age: 15% of women and 23.5% of men (both ages15-24) report having had their first sexual experience before age 15. Fifty percent of women and 70% of men reported having had sexual relations by the age of 18. Condom usage, while improving, is still relatively low: only 25.0% of women and 53.4% of men (both ages 15-24) reported using a condom during their first sexual experience, and during perceived high risk sex, only 43.9% of women, ages 15-24, used a condom.