The Dominican Republic's government has taken steps to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in the country, such as in 2002 creating a multi-sector body-called the Presidential AIDS Council (Consejo Presidencial del SIDA, COPRESIDA)-to coordinate and monitor national public and private sector efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. The government has also implemented a national program to reduce parent-to-child HIV transmission, and has sought international funding for long-term AIDS treatment programs. These are clearly positive and necessary steps in the right direction, for which the government should be commended.
However, the government has failed to take seriously the link-well-established and analyzed in international public health and human rights literature-between the spread of the disease and entrenched sex inequality, violence against women, and social biases that otherwise limit women's autonomy and rights. As a consequence, the HIV/AIDS policies, programs, and plans the Dominican Republic designed and implemented have in some areas failed to address adequately the acute human rights violations suffered by women, and, in others, have contributed to these violations.
