Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Santo Domingo (Agenzia Fides) - 90% of the approximately 80,000 people with HIV in the Dominican Republic live in extreme poverty. AIDS patients die of hunger, they are unemployed, marginalized from society, deprived of any kind of nutritional support, housing, medical care. They live in inhuman conditions. This is the complaint launched by the Coalition of NGOs for the Fight Against HIV/AIDS, sent to Fides. The biggest problem for people living with HIV in the country is unemployment. 95% do not work, no one wants to give them opportunities, and those who work keep their physical condition hidden for fear of being fired. Most survive with the support of family members. For people with AIDS or HIV positive all the doors are closed, thus reinforcing the cycle of poverty and creating an insurmountable social drama for the patient and family members. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 20/05/2015)
