Hector Osorio Bogran has been working as an HIV/AIDS activist since December 2002, when he started a consultation project and a national investigation into the conditions of children living on the streets and the impact of HIV/AIDS. Hector volunteers at the National AIDS Forum and is the president of the Youth League Against AIDS. The organization’s major focus as a group is the protection of the human rights of people living with HIV and AIDS. They are also promoters of the Special Law of AIDS.

The population of Honduras was estimated at 6.4 million in 2001. From 1995 to 2000, it grew at 2.8%, the highest population growth rate registered in the Americas. The country has a relatively young population: an estimated 43 per cent of the population is below 15 years of age. The adolescent fertility rate is among the highest in the region, at 136 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-19. Honduras accounts for more than 1/2 of reported HIV infections in Central America, and the main mode of transmission is sexual. According to UNAIDS estimates, the number of people living with HIV and AIDS in Honduras was 63,000 in 1999. While a decade ago, HIV/AIDS affected mainly men, incidence among women and youth is accelerating. As articulated in its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and National Plan for Reconstruction and Transformation, Honduras is focusing on integrating population dynamics with sustainable development, strengthening reproductive health and family planning, and promoting gender equality and equity. Some innovative efforts have included the training of professional nurses, auxiliary nurses and physicians; the provision of reproductive health information and services to men, women, and adolescents living in temporary shelters; and the development of adolescent-specific services and information.

In 1999 the government approved a special law on HIV/AIDS which created the National Commission on AIDS, an organization that coordinates all the efforts that are being made betwen local NGOs and the Honduran government. The Government has recently developed its second NSP on HIV/AIDS, covering the period 2003-2007. Honduras passed a law in 2000 on equal opportunities for women, which in part, requires the Government to include population education in schools, including information on sexuality, reproduction and prevention of STIs and unwanted pregnancy.

A new initiative to prevent HIV in Central America and the Caribbean was formally launched in Havana, Cuba, in April, 2003. The effort, implemented by UNFPA with a $3.2 million contribution from the OPEC Fund for International Development, aims to raise awareness of sexually transmitted diseases among the youth of the region, which has the highest HIV prevalence rates in the Western Hemisphere. It will also provide young people with sexual and reproductive health care that is youth-friendly, and gender and culturally sensitive. The new initiative is based on an agreement signed by UNFPA and the OPEC Fund in November 2002. Honduras is among countries benefiting from the initiative including Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana and Saint Lucia.