What changes have occurred in recent years in Latin America with regard to the HIV epidemic?
The epidemic has altered its course over the last 12 years. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, it chiefly affected men who had sex with men, bisexuals and transsexuals, including sex workers. Gradually the epidemic has spread more to women and to heterosexuals. This is probably due to the fact that all the various prevention strategies, initiatives and actions have been concentrated on the population considered to be most vulnerable. Heterosexuals tend to think that it is enough NOT to belong to one of the groups classified as vulnerable, in order to avoid catching HIV. And this is a direct consequence of the feminization of the epidemic. Heterosexual men have not been directly targeted in HIV prevention and Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaigns. Women are being infected by their husbands or by their partners and although many campaigns, programmes and initiatives have been conducted with a view to teaching women how to negotiate the use of condoms, these are not wor
