In March 2007, the M·A·C AIDS Fund awarded grants totaling more than $1.75 million (USD) to address HIV/AIDS specifically in the Caribbean region. What is the Caribbean Initiative? Through the Caribbean Initiative, the M·A·C AIDS Fund has sought to find a wide range of organizations addressing critical aspects of the AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean. Although the Caribbean is rightly thought of by many people as a spectacular tourist destination, it is also a part of the world that has been hard hit by the AIDS epidemic. Next to sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean has the world’s highest HIV infection rate, with Haiti and the Dominican Republic together accounting for 85% of the region’s HIV infections. In three of the seven countries in this region - the Bahamas, Haiti and Trinadad and Tobago - more than 2% of the adult population is living with HIV and because of low testing rates, experts believe that these numbers far underestimate the true impact of the epidemic. At the end of 2006, an estimated 250,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, with 27,000 new infections occurring that year alone. AIDS is now one of the leading causes of death among those aged 15-44. More than half of adults living with the virus are women, and heterosexual sex is the primary form of transmission in the region. These numbers are staggering and discouraging, but it is not too late. Under the Caribbean Initiative, M·A·C AIDS Fund has funded groups tackling the key issues in the islands, treatment through provision of antiretroviral therapy, community led prevention and treatment education, legal advise for people with HIV/AIDS, prevention through family planning centers, and journalism. The M·A·C AIDS Fund views this Initiative as the beginning of its commitment to this important part of the world.