AIDS

Dr. Arturo Carrillo wants to end discrimination and stigmatization of people living with HIV in his home country of El Salvador.

“Very often people disrespect the basic human rights of this population,” he says.

He’s an HIV expert for the National STI/HIV/AIDS Program for the Ministry of Health. As part of his job, he educates people on key issues, including sexual diversity.

“Each and every one of us has to understand that while people may be different, under the law we are all equal,” Dr. Carrillo says. “And that is extremely important.”

Like other countries in Central America, El Salvador’s HIV epidemic is concentrated in specific groups—HIV prevalence among sex workers is 5.7%, among men who have sex with men it’s 10.8%, and among transgender women it’s 25.8%. But widespread unfamiliarity with HIV, stigma, limited access to health care, poverty, and migration all make the country and the region vulnerable to a growing HIV epidemic. Read more »

Headlines making waves across the United States recently featured the severity of this year’s flu virus. Record numbers of cases are reported for the particularly severe strain of influenza. Health experts are urging everyone to get their flu shot if they have not already. Absent are headlines suggesting a vaccine shortage.

Though we may take for granted access to vaccines protecting us from the flu and other viruses, in many parts of the world access to vaccinations, antibiotics, and HIV/AIDS and family planning commodities is limited. Restrictive financing, stockouts, untrained supply chain managers, logistics hardships, fragile infrastructure, weak health systems, and a host of other challenges threaten commodity security in many countries. Read more »