When I began working with Doctora Lily at the newly established CAI (Centro de Atencion Integral) Clinic back in September 2010 she had 12 patients registered to receive anti-retroviral medications to combat the growing scourge of HIV-AIDS. Honduras has the highest HIV positive population in Central America and it´s the second poorest country in the western hemisphere after Haiti. Not good statistics. When I returned to HN to help the over-burdened doctor manage the caseload she had 22 patients registered (we know there are many more). She provides the medications and I provide the counseling. We both work only mornings (she´s a pediatrician in addition to her CAI duties), Monday through Friday. An example of the types of patients to whom we provide medical care is one case that presented before my desk last week. A 40-year-old mother sat before me with her 14-year-old daughter, each with a child. The HIV positive patient with a 5-year-old son; her 14-year-old daughter with a 9-month-old son. The father of these children is the same household husband violating his 14-year-old daughter. This is a case I must morally and clinically deal with in a country that has lax enforcement and non-existent investigative services. It is definitely a challenge.
CAI Clinic La Paz
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