The Barbados Ministry of Health and Wellness is challenging UN figures on HIV/AIDS transmission among young people in Barbados insisting the numbers here are half that published by UNAIDS.

The clarification from Barbados health officials follows the publication of a new report by UNAIDS which showed HIV/AIDS transmission among young people in Barbados as the highest listed for the Caribbean and one of the highest in the world.

UNAIDS stated that globally young people between the ages of 15 to 24 years accounted for 28 percent of new HIV infections in 2023 while in the Caribbean, overall, they accounted for 27 percent.

The UN agency claimed the proportion of total HIV incidence among young people in Barbados was 37 percent compared to, for example, 14 percent in Suriname and Guyana.

However, Barbados’ Senior Medical Officer of Health, responsible for HIV/AIDS, Dr. Dale Babb, contends that the UN numbers for Barbados are incorrect.

She insists that a faulty UN computer model has produced a vastly over-estimated number for Barbados.

Senior Medical Officer of Health, responsible for HIV/AIDS, Dr. Dale Babb.