U.S. Policy & Issues

HIV/AIDS in Cote d'Ivoire

A woman holds a sign against AIDS at a US Embassy-sponsored AIDS awareness event (Photo: Honoré Koffi/US Embassy)

HIV Infected Individuals : 570,000

AIDS Deaths: 47,0001

AIDS Orphans: 310,000

Côte d’Ivoire has a generalized HIV epidemic and the highest HIV prevalence in West Africa, with an estimated stable adult population prevalence of 7.0 percent according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Urban HIV prevalence remained stable between 1997 and 2002 at about 9.5 percent, according to data from 10 urban antenatal sites. The UNAIDS national prevalence estimate of 7 percent reflects the lower prevalence in rural areas, where more than half the population resides.

An estimated 54,000 infants are born to HIV-infected women each year, and approximately one-thirdof these infants will be HIV-infected in the absence of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) interventions. Populations at comparatively high risk for HIV exposure include youth, the military and highly mobile populations. The prolonged political-military crisis, in addition to exacerbating the vulnerability of these groups, is likely to have created additional populations at high risk of contracting HIV given the large-scale, multinational, military deployment; massive population displacement; increasing poverty; and disruption of services and supplies for blood screening, treatment of sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis, and other health activities.