AIDS in the Republic of Congo

In the Republic of Congo, the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate among the adult population has been constantly declining since the mid nineties. In 2009 it was at 3.4%, with values significantly higher in the more densely populated urban areas, such as Brazzaville and Pointe Noire, where over 70% of the country’s population live.
Women are more likely to be affected, irrespective of their socio-economic status: of the some 77,000 people living with HIV, 40,000 were women over the age of 15. The risk of being seropositive for them is almost as twice than it is for men: 4.1% against 2.1%. Similarly, in the 15 to 24 age group, the prevalence rate for young women was estimated at 2.6% while for young men at 1.2%.
In 2009, 7,900 children between the age of 0 and 14 were infected with HIV, almost all of them from their mothers. The number of HIV positive pregnant women was estimated at 3,800 and only 12% had been treated with antiretroviral drugs.

Since 2007, a number of Health Centers in the country provide prenatal counselling and HIV screening services. At the same time, doctors and obstetricians are being trained to treat HIV positive pregnant women .
The percentage of pregnant women who accept to be screened for HIV is still quite low. In addition to cultural reasons, access is greatly hindered by economic factors: in fact, even if the treatment of AIDS is now free, a number of exams that are part of the prevention program for the vertical transmission of HIV are not, and therefore not accessible to the majority of women.