AIDS in Mexico: lessons learned and implications for developing countries.

Although anecdotal evidence suggests that HIV infections in Mexico were occurring in 1981, the first cases of AIDS in Mexico were documented in 1983. Since then, approximately 50 000 cases of AIDS have been reported nationwide and it is estimated that there are approximately 150 000 HIV-infected persons living in Mexico [1,2]. While it could be argued that there is some underreporting of AIDS in Mexico [2,3], the epidemic is still significantly less intense than that to the north (USA) or south (Central American countries, e.g. Honduras). One possible explanation for this is that, unlike in the countries surrounding it, the epidemic in Mexico has remained ‘nuclear’, primarily affecting men who have sex with men in urban areas of the country such as Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Tijuana [4]. This relative containment of the epidemic is by no means accidental but rather the end result of many prevention efforts conducted by the government as well as by community-based organizations.