With a coastline of 2,650 miles (4,265 km), Chile accounts for more than half of the western coastline of South America. Wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes , natural geographic boundaries limit its contact with neighboring countries. These barriers are credited with slowing the introduction of HIV into the country (Ferrer, 2004). Most people live in the central valleys. It is predominantly urbanized (85%).

Considered to be on the epidemiological cusp of an incipient AIDS epidemic (WHO, 2004), latest statistics from the National AIDS Commission (2004) indicate that over 6,000 Chileans currently are living with AIDS (double the number 5 years ago), and another 6,500 have contracted the virus but are asymptotic. Acknowledging severe underreporting, the government estimates that the actual number of people living with HIV is probably closer to 32,000, while NGOs place the figure at over 50,000 out of a total population of 15.9 million. Most AIDS infections (77%) occur among males, with 70% of the country's total AIDS cases attributed to sex between men. Statistical trends, however, show an increasing percentage of infections occurring through heterosexual behavior, from urban to rural settings, and an escalating feminization of the epidemic (CONASIDA, 2001). Drug-related HIV infection is still nascent in the country, but rising (Ferrer, 2004).

For more information on AIDS in Chile, visit UNAIDS.

Ferrer, L. (2004). Non Governemental Organizations: Communities Organizing around HIV/AIDS in Santiago , Chile . Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago.