Barbados Country Profile
Barbados Country Profile
Discover more about CDC’s work in Barbados by viewing our detailed country profilepdf icon
Country Overview
The CDC Caribbean Regional Office (CRO) opened in 2002 and is currently based in Jamaica. Barbados served as CDC CRO’s hub in 2008-2018. CDC CRO continues to support the Government of Barbados and other partners in-country to accelerate HIV epidemic control by: improving access to quality services for people living with HIV (PLHIV); re-engaging PLHIV lost to follow-up and retaining them on treatment to achieve viral suppression; enhancing laboratory capacity and viral load testing services; and improving data access and quality, particularly for key populations. Among its many accomplishments, CDC has supported the construction of the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory, which provides state-of-the-art services and diagnostics for Barbados and the region.
Per Capita GNI
$15,240
(2017)
Population (million)
290,000
(2018)
Under 5 Mortality
12/1,000 Live Births
(2017)
Life Expectancy
76 Years
(2017)
Estimated HIV Prevalence
1.5%
(Ages 15-49): (2018)
Estimated AIDS Deaths
<100
(2018)
TB Treatment Success Rate
100%
(2016)
Estimated TB Incidence
0/100,000
(2017)
TB Mortality
0.91/100,000
(2017)
TB patients with known HIV-status who are HIV-positive
0%
(2017)
Reported Number Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy (ART)
1,518
(2018)
Strategic Focus
Since 2003, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-Brazil has played a critical role in lending expertise and partnering with the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Secretariat of Health Surveillance to promote the use of new and innovative technologies to control the country’s HIV epidemic and build sustainable programs. CDC Brazil is dedicated to building important public health and diplomatic relationships between the Governments of Brazil and the United States in health prevention and promotion.
Strengthening Public Health Platforms: CDC provides technical leadership and direct assistance to the MOH to enhance HIV programming, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), epidemiological surveillance, and laboratory services. CDC leads and supports research and trainings, knowledge exchanges, and decentralization of HIV services to the health care network through training and hands-on support.
Expanding HIV Testing and Linkage to Treatment among Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM): CDC provides technical support to strengthen the local response to HIV/AIDS. In partnership with the National Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI), AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Department, CDC-Brazil implements projects, studies and programs to introduce innovation and provide further evidence on successful approaches targeting key populations, and particularly MSM.
Key Activities and Accomplishments
HIV Testing: Collaborating with selected state and municipal health departments in Paraná and São Paulo states, in addition to a variety of civil society organizations, CDC supports HIV self-testing among MSM through distribution of oral fluid-based tests using a web-based request-and-delivery system. CDC and its partners work to increase MSM access to HIV pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis and to diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. All communication strategies are focused on young MSM.
HIV Surveillance: CDC provides technical assistance (TA) to develop tools for outlining key stages of engagement in the continuum of HIV treatment, data collection, analysis and use for decision-making. The Curitiba Health Secretariat is developing the first ever MSM-specific continuum of care in country. CDC also provides TA to HIV prevalence estimations among key populations in Brazil.
Tuberculosis: CDC works closely with the National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) on select shared priorities. Currently, the NTP and CDC are planning a survey of catastrophic costs associated with TB as well capacity building in TB infection control and prevention.
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