Scaling Up Towards Universal Access to HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care, and Treatment: Timor-Leste Country Report

It is believed that HIV prevalence in Timor-Leste is currently low. However HIV/AIDS has had a devastating impact on other countries in comparable circumstances to Timor-Leste. Among Timor-Leste’s nearest neighbors Papua New Guinea appears to be in the early stages of a generalized HIV epidemic which threatens to not only halt, but reverse the development achievements that nation has made in its relatively short history. Many of the circumstances that have led to the current HIV situation in Papua New Guinea are also present in Timor-Leste including large scale social dislocation and high levels of HIV related risk behaviors.