Of that number of cases, 237 correspond to men and 74 to women.

The Minsa explained that the regions that report low figures for the first semester of 2020 are the Guna Yala region that did not present cases, followed by the provinces of Herrera with 1 case, Darién with 2 and Los Santos with 4.

According to epidemiological statistics, Panama Metro has a total of 83, the Comarca Ngäbe Buglé with 50, the provinces of Chiriquí 31, Panamá Oeste 25 and Colón with 22, being the regions that present a greater number of new cases of HIV.

For 2019, at the national level, HIV statistics ended with a total of 1,460 new cases, of which 1,163 corresponded to men and 297 to women.

The statistics presented show that the age ranges for the first semester of 2020 between 0 to 19 years is the one that registers the least cases with a total of 42 cases, while the ages between 20 and 39 years lead the figures with a total of 196, explained a statement from the entity.

The age range with the highest number of cases for 2019 was 20 and 39 years with 1,055 HIV-positive people.

Currently the health authorities carry out the campaign "Take the test", where messages are sent through social networks to urge the population to take the test, this is confidential, safe and can be done in Health Centers, the test HIV treatment, care and treatment are free.

Prevention of HIV

According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS), there are various methods and interventions that have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing the risk of HIV infection and increasing protection against it, such as the male and female condoms, reducing the number of sexual partners, voluntary male medical circumcision and delaying the initiation of sexual intercourse.

It should be noted that a report provided by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) indicates that the number of new HIV cases in Latin America is estimated to have increased by 21% since 2010, with approximately 120,000 new people infected in 2019 , while the Caribbean had a 29% reduction from 2010 to 2019, from an estimated 18,000 new cases in 2010 to 13,000 per year.