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Country Profile

Sri Lanka is one of the few countries in the Asia and Pacific region with low level epidemic with the adult HIV prevalence of 0.03 in 2007. The first case of HIV was detected in 1987 and it is estimated that 3,800 people are living with HIV in 2007. As of end March 2009, the reported cumulative HIV case is 1,099 (642 male and 457 female) with male to female ratio of 1.4:1 and there are 37 children living with HIV.

The number of reported cumulative AIDS cases is 293 and the cumulative number of AIDS death is 189 at the end of March 2009. 58% of reported HIV cases are between 20 to 39 years of age whereas 35% of the reported HIV cases are from the district of Colombo. Mode of transmission, is mainly through hetero sexual means which accounts for 85% while by homo and bisexual means constitute 10%. Perinatal transmission accounts for 4% whilst through blood transfusion and injecting drug is less than 1% with 0.4% and 0.3% respectively.

The numbers of HIV positive men are higher than that of women in all age groups. According to age desegregation, the highest number of HIV infected people has been observed in the age group of 35-39 which accounts for 20% of all cases.

The transmission though blood and blood products is still remarkably low though the percentage of donated blood units screened for HIV in a quality assured manner is only 42% in 2007. Similarly, the number of HIV cases attributable to injecting drug use is also less than 1% although the percentage of sharing needles and syringes among people who inject drugs(PWID) is considerably high.

Though Sri Lanka is still in the early epidemic phase with limited epidemic potential, the presence of risk factors suggests it may not be maintained unless appropriate action is taken. These factors include low condom use in MSM, PWID, and some groups of female sex workers, low level of knowledge about HIV transmission among high risk groups, sharing of needles and syringes among injecting PWID(42 %), low rate of blood screening (42%), high mobility and separation from spouses, opening of free trade zones and increasing migration of young people, conflict, internal displacement and military personnel movement, and a high level of stigma associated with people living with HIV/AIDS. However, at the same time, there are some factors which are in favor of containing a low level epidemic such as high literacy rates among women, socio-cultural values on institution of marriage with condemnation on multiple or concurrent sexual partners and quality of health care and consequent access to health services, particularly in the public sector.