HIV/AIDS has been a public health concern for Latin America due to a remaining prevalence of the disease. As of 2024, approximately 2.5 million people in Latin America were living with HIV. This is an increase from the 2018 estimation that 2.2 million people had HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean, making the HIV prevalence rate approximately 0.4% in Latin America. Female sex workers and drug users also have higher prevalence for the disease than the general population (4.9% and 1%-49.7% respectively). Since 2000, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean has been highest in Haiti (5.2%), the Bahamas (4.1%), and the Dominican Republic (2.8%).

Antiretroviral treatment coverage has been high, with AIDS related deaths decreasing between 2007 and 2017 by 12%, although the rate of new infections has not seen a large decrease. In 2017 77% of Latin Americans with HIV were aware of their HIV status. Other main prevention methods include condom availability, education and outreach, HIV awareness, and mother-to-child transmission prevention. In September 1982, AIDS is given its name and a case definition for the very first time. Specific details on the origin of HIV/AIDS in Latin America are lacking, but in 1983, the first known HIV cases in Latin America were confirmed in Mexico and Haiti in the form of the HIV-1. Blood screening in Mexico was scare in the early 1990s, which contributed to 63% of female AIDS cases stemming from blood transfusions.

Prevention of HIV/AIDS infections

In order to prevent and slow the transmission rates within the Latin American population public health initiatives need to target vulnerable populations. Providing treatment, education, and health services that are stigma-free and accessible to vulnerable populations is key to combating the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Latin America.

  • Correctly using barrier methods (male condoms and dental damns)

Recently in Bahamas, Brazil, El Salvador, Jamaica, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago self tests were made available, and have the potential to increase testing in at-risk populations. However the accessibility and affordability of the tests is under scrutiny from public health professionals.