UN: Caribbean sees big drop in AIDS-related deaths

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The U.N. says the number of AIDS-related deaths in the Caribbean have dropped significantly in the past decade thanks to the increased availability of anti-retroviral drugs and improved access to medical treatment.

The UNAIDS office in Trinidad says doctors recorded about 10,000 deaths across the Caribbean last year, about half the number reported a decade ago.

Officials said 13,000 new infections were reported in the Caribbean last year, including about 1,100 children who became infected through their mothers. The U.N. said Wednesday that the majority of new infections generally occurred in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which together represent 68 per cent of the region’s HIV epidemic.

The report comes ahead of the world’s largest AIDS conference in Washington, D.C.