For the past 15 years, Elizabeth Mc Almont has worked tirelessly to provide HIV education and other related services to a wide cross-section of persons in Guyana.
Ruby Mercenario is a 32-year-old transgender woman who receives care at the Francisco Gonzalvo public hospital in the La Romana province of the Dominican Republic. She praises the benefits of receiving services at a place free of stigma and discrimination.
Kayla and Carlos are beneficiaries of the HIV Comprehensive Care Clinic at the Centro de Promoción y Solidaridad Humana, Inc. (CEPROSH) in the Puerto Plata province of the Dominican Republic.
In the Dominican Republic (DR), APC project serves populations with the highest HIV prevalence by expanding coverage and improving the quality of HIV-prevention, care, and support services.
Queenie, or Q as she sometimes goes by, is an HIV positive, transgender (trans) person living in Guyana. When Q fell ill after defaulting on anti-retroviral therapy (ART), she was hesitant to resume her treatment. Given the stigma and discrimination Q had experienced in the hospital as a trans person, she was not looking forward to going back alone. So she reached out to Guyana Trans United (GTU), an organization that supports the trans community, for assistance.
In the Dominican Republic (DR), transgender (trans) persons experience stigma and discrimination in many different ways and are denied the same opportunities as other Dominicans. In recent years, more efforts have been directed at improving the quality of life for the trans community. However, these initiatives focus mainly on HIV prevention and treatment, ignoring the multiple socioeconomic and health needs of these marginalized individuals.
Key populations in the Dominican Republic have HIV prevalence rates that are six to twelve times higher than the national average of 0.8 percent. Although there are multiple players committed to tackling the concentrated HIV epidemic, large gaps in coverage and access to HIV prevention, care and treatment services remain.
Shane's journey as a peer educator for HIV began after attending an HIV education session in 2008.