ABSTRACT
This chapter reports the results of a survey conducted among health care providers in the US Virgin Islands. The survey was conducted to find out how health professionals felt about treating HIV/AIDS patients, given the increasing numbers of infected persons in the US Virgin Islands (full-blown AIDS cases rose from 8 in 1987 to 130 in 1993, and in 1993 there were 725 reported HIV positive cases). A questionnaire on needs assessment, developed by the New York/Virgin Islands AIDS Education and Training Center-Partnership for Excellence in HIV Care, was mailed to all 135 licensed physicians and dentists residing and practicing in the US Virgin Islands. The educational challenge is not focused only on the clinical management of HIV/AIDS patients but also on the unwillingness of so many professionals to care for this growing body of patients. AIDS is a regional issue, one that has to be solved regionally.
