Abstract

MIRANDA GOMEZ, Osvaldo; FARINAS REINOSO, Ana Teresa  and  COUTIN MARIE, Gisele. Health inequalities in HIV infection in Cuba. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2010, vol.36, n.4, pp.301-305. ISSN 0864-3466.

Introduction The analysis of health inequalities has gained importance due to growing evidence that these conditions tend to remain rather than to disappear, and even they have increased in some countries. Objectives To examine the influence of gender, sexual orientation, age, place of origin, race, occupation and education in HIV-positive individuals. Methods An ecological study was conducted. The universe of study was all the diagnoses of HIV-positive people from 1986 to 2007. Data were collected from the HIV/AIDS database in the Ministry of Public Health. Results Among the HIV-positive individuals, 80,57 % were men, thus the male/female ratio of the infected people kept above that of the Cuban population during the whole period. Of the infected men, 84,34 % had sexual relations with other men whereas just one woman declared having had sex with other women. The highest incidence was found in the 20 years-old and 34 years-old age groups. Caucasians were predominantly diagnosed with HIV (84,44 %). The highest number of seropositive people (15,90 %) came from the health care sector. The high number of diagnosed cases matched the high population density in Havana. Five highly populated urban municipalities named Centro Havana, 10 de Octubre, Santa Clara, Habana Vieja and Plaza exhibited the highest cumulative number of HIV-positive persons throughout the country. Conclusions Men prevailed in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Cuba, particularly those having sex with other men. Caucasians are the most diagnosed with HIV. Both at municipalities and provinces, the highest number of cases came, as a general rule, from overpopulated urban areas. The majority of diagnosed seropositives was found in the health care sector.

Keywords : Infection from human immunodeficiency virus; health inequalities; seropositive people; HIV-positive people.

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