Benin
Benin’s first case of HIV appeared in 1985. According to the 2006 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and estimates of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Benin has a generalized epidemic, with 1.2 percent of the adult population estimated to be HIV positive as of 2007. However, concentrated HIV epidemics also exist among at-risk populations, particularly sex workers and their clients, truck drivers, blood donors, young people, and tuberculosis patients. Estimates based on the 2006 DHS show HIV prevalence rates to be lower than past UNAIDS estimates, and, in recent years, the epidemic appears to have stabilized.
According to UNAIDS, sentinel surveillance of pregnant women attending antenatal clinics found that HIV prevalence fell by almost half between 2001 and 2007, from 4.1 percent to 2.1 percent. However, there are substantial regional differences in prevalence, with a more than ninefold variation (from 0.4 percent to 3.8 percent) among pregnant women in different regions, according to Benin’s Ministry of Health. UNAIDS estimated 64,000 people in Benin were HIV positive at the beginning of 2008.
USAID activities in Benin have focused on addressing some of the major challenges facing the National AIDS Control Committee. Activities include improving the quality of HIV and prevention of sexually transmitted infections and case management services; increasing demand for services through mass media and educational programs for specific groups; strengthening institutional management; and working toward the decentralization of HIV/AIDS control activities.
View the full USAID
HIV/AIDS Health Profile for Benin - October 2010 [PDF,
127KB].
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