HIV and San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Almost every guide book recommends skipping San Pedro Sula and continuing on to just about anywhere else in Honduras.

Keeping this in the back of my mind we, my daughter and grandson, flew into Honduras with the intent of visiting experts in San Pedro Sula dealing with the ravages of a growing HIV epidemic. Some claim the city is the Mecca for infection as well as for medical support. I wanted to investigate whether of not anyone was organizing “Care Teams” for those suffering from infections.

The city has a reputation for violence, poverty and a lack of tourist sites of interest. The Central Park and Cathedral, Guamilito Market and the Museum of Anthropology and History are about it for the tourist waiting to travel to the Bay Islands and other destinations. Most of the colonial buildings have fallen down or been destroyed as the city sprawls to become one of the fastest growing cities in Central America. A couple of nights are about the max unless you have business in town.

Dennis and Rafael of Maya Temple Tours were extremely helpful on managing transportation, housing and some translation services. Dennis is a successful businessman accomplished in various business enterprises. Rafael was extremely helpful with helping me gather first hand information on the scourge of HIV in Honduras and throughout Central America.

Statistics on HIV/AIDS tend to confuse the best of us, as they seem to shift depending on the researchers, country and politics governing the information that is disseminated to the public. I will leave the gathering of statistic to those who do it best quoting only when I have numbers from the most reliable sources.

San Pedro Sula, and other Honduran cities, towns and villages all have experiences with the sick. Some are convinced that mosquitoes bring on the infection, or that non-sexual intimacy, sharing of utensils, toilets, hugging and kissing cause “the bug” as some call it. Things are slowly changing though education needs to be ramped up considerably.
(I visited schools in Seattle in May of 2010 where some of the above beliefs were held as factual)

Honduras, and other Central American countries, have legal prostitution, ports inviting all sorts of social interaction mischief and wide spread drug smuggling, distribution and use. Not too many places allow needle exchanges or the free distribution of condoms. With the influence of religion guiding many the problem occasionally is more complicated than being just a health issue.

Honduras has done a lot since 2000 through government action, funding and the courage of some to speak up attempting to allow dialogue and change to help those infected and those at risk.

Rosa Gonzalez, a Honduran, in 1996 came forward sharing that she, her husband, and child were HIV positive. Her position was that people needed to know and see the humanity of the disease. I spoke to a number of people who were ashamed that they had relatives who were infected. They were so ashamed they no longer interacted with that family member seeing some bigger moral consequence to the infection. Mrs. Gonzalez was the Honduras Representative for the USAID-supporting Central America AIDS Action Projects from 2002 through January 2005. Later she was elected President of the Central American Network of HIV-Positive People, which provides her with an educational and advocacy platform furthering the cause of people affected by HIV/AIDS.

During our visit it became clear that there were not many “Care Teams” reaching out to the infected. There were medical services, a number of support organizations, visiting experts, doctors and nurses reaching out, church groups and individuals trying to help the HIV/AIDS community.

What I was looking for were groups of people brought together to “support” an infected person through social interaction. Groups, from my experiences with the seven different groups I have been on, is usually six or so people sharing the responsibility of socializing with a sick person. The group, with the care partner, determines how much the person wants in support. Do they want to get together once a month? Have a group activity? Does the care partner need transportation? Any combination of interaction can be constructed allowing everybody in the group to be comfortable with whatever the determination is for the group.

From what I found in my visit in Honduras is the “heart” side of dealing with HIV/AIDS victims is yet to be constructed in ways that are measurable to the health of the person suffering.

Isolation, abandonment and loneliness are as powerful in weakening the person as the opportunistic diseases that ultimately take command.

In future articles I will share how “care teams’ are vital to the overall health of those suffering from the challenges of HIV/AIDS.

“The biggest disease today is the feeling of being unwanted…”Princess Diana