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.
Through a grant awarded under Advancing Partners & Communities (APC), INSALUD improves access to integrated, high quality HIV services to key populations and strengthens the technical and organizational capacity of community‐based organizations through subgrants, monitoring, and mentoring in the Dominican Republic.
El Instituto Nacional de la Salud (INSALUD) is a public health organization in the Dominican Republic. It was created in 1978 as one of the Managing Bodies of the Social Security; charge of the management and administration of health services Social Security System.
Through a grant awarded under Advancing Partners & Communities (APC), to improve access to clinical services, retention in HIV care and treatment, and improve quality of life for people living with HIV from key populations in Santo Domingo (and other zones TBD) with a focus on FSW, TG and MSM populations based on the Abriendo Puertas pilot intervention model for female sex workers.
Stigma and discrimination is an obstacle for vulnerable populations to access HIV prevention and treatment services. The project Advancing Partners & Communities in the Dominican Republic (DR) is committed to reduce stigma and discrimination against vulnerable populations.
Patient navigators community leaders and peers are (members of key population groups and most on treatment themselves) who support linkage to care and follow up for newly diagnosed HIV individuals and provide essential counseling to strengthen treatment adherence.
At the end of March 2018, there was a 71 percent data discrepancy between pre-ART patients reported in the government’s FAPPS database (a component of the national HIV services information system) and the pre-ART patients reported after reviewing medical records at the six clinical sites supported by APC in the Dominican Republic.
Since initiation of Test and START at six APC-supported clinical sites in FY17, the average number of days from diagnosis to initiation of treatment for newly diagnosed patients dropped from 30 days to seven days by September 2017, and was further reduced to an average 3.9 days by September 2018.
El objetivo de este medio, es compartir las experiencias, lecciones aprendidas y buenas practicas, generadas por via de los Colaborativos que, bajo el liderazgo del Servicio Nacional de Salud funcionan en los 11 Servicios de Atencion Integral al VIH/sida priorizados de las provincias de Santo Domingo, La Romana, Santiago y Puerto Plata.
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.