HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS Situation in Cote d'Ivoire

• HIV Prevalence Rate: 4.7% (AIDS Indicator Survey, ORC MACRO, 2005)
  
• Estimated Number of HIV-Infected People: 570,000 (UNAIDS, 2004)
  
• Estimated Number of Individuals on Anti-Retroviral Therapy: 18,235 (6/2006, MOH)
  
• Estimated Number of Children Orphaned by AIDS: 450,000 (UNAIDS, 2006)
  

Cote d'Ivoire continues to traverse its deepest politico-military crisis since independence, divided in two by a UN-controlled buffer zone.  Even so it remains a regional economic and migratory hub, bordered by Ghana, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Liberia, and the Atlantic Ocean. Almost one-third of the population of 16.9 million consists of immigrants from the sub-region, and about half of the population lives in rural areas. Cote d’Ivoire has a generalized HIV/AIDS epidemic with the highest national adult HIV prevalence in West Africa; both HIV-1 and HIV-2 viruses are prevalent.

According to the 2005 AIDS Indicator Survey (AIS), the country’s epidemic is marked by striking gender and geographic differences, early sexual debut, intergenerational and multiple concurrent sexual partnerships, weak knowledge about HIV transmission and prevention, and low condom use. In all age groups, females are far more likely than males to have HIV (overall 6.4% vs. 2.9%; among ages 20-24, 4.5% vs. 0.3%). Prevalence rates peak among women aged 30-34 at 14.9%, among men aged 40-44 at 7.0%. Male prevalence may be mitigated by near-universal (96%) circumcision. Geographically, prevalence ranges from 1.7% in the Northwest to near 6% in the South and East and 6.1% in Abidjan. Populations at high risk for acquiring and transmitting HIV include sero-discordant couples, the uniformed services and ex-combatants, commercial sex workers, economically vulnerable women and girls, truckers and mobile populations, sexually active youth, and orphans and vulnerable children. Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of AIDS-related deaths; 47% of the 18,000 people newly diagnosed with TB each year are co-infected with HIV and in need of both HIV and TB treatment. 

In effective coordination with the host government, the interagency PEPFAR team and implementing partners are moving ahead with their FY 2006 programs and demonstrating impressive results. Significant gains in antiretroviral treatment and care for vulnerable children are being secured through an emphasis on building local capacity and ensuring sustainability. In September 2006, three new projects were awarded to Ivorian organizations: (1) an umbrella sub-grants project to increase the capacity of community- and faith-based organizations to expand a multifaceted civil-society response; (2) a treatment partner to provide comprehensive clinical HIV/AIDS treatment, care, and support services; and (3) a renewed partnership with the Ministry of Health to strengthen policy, systems, and monitoring and evaluation capacities at the central and decentralized levels.