In Cancún and across Quintana Roo, outreach teams say they’re hitting a wall: not enough rapid tests for HIV and syphilis, and fewer chances to meet people where they are. A local NGO describes rationing kits and moving to appointment-only screenings. The state counters that tens of thousands of tests are planned this year. Both things can be true. While the government scales up supply, gaps on the ground are costing time — and early detection. The stakes are high in a state with persistent HIV rates.
HIV test shortages
An activist in Cancún says this year has been the hardest in recent memory. His team used to request up to a thousand test kits every few months. Now, they’re rationing what little they have and limiting HIV and syphilis screening to appointments. Field work in meeting spots and sex-work zones has been curtailed for safety, shrinking their reach. “We’ve had few supplies… almost no syphilis tests, and few HIV tests,” he told La Jornada Maya, adding that three or four in ten tests are coming back reactive — often with coinfection.
Public-health math is unforgiving. When testing slows, people who are unaware of their status continue to transmit. Early diagnosis is delayed, antiretroviral treatment starts later, and preventable complications arise. That’s especially risky when syphilis and HIV move together, as the activist’s team is seeing. PAHO has warned countries to prioritize syphilis testing and treatment to stop surges and congenital transmission — a reminder that supply, outreach, and follow-up must move in lockstep.
Officials in Quintana Roo say additional tests are forthcoming. In mid-September, the state health secretary said the goal is 60,000 rapid HIV tests this year and reported zero HIV-related deaths so far in 2025, crediting earlier detection and treatment. Separate local reports echoed the 60,000-test target. If that delivery lands where the need is highest — in mobile brigades, CAPASITS units, or NGOs — it could ease the pressure described by outreach teams.
On the ground in Cancún
There’s a tension here that matters. Outreach groups report HIV test shortages and fewer safe chances to screen people where they live and work. The state projects a record year for testing. Both can be true if the distribution doesn’t match the field reality or if security risks force teams indoors, where many won’t show. La Jornada Maya’s reporting cites curtailed field work for safety; that alone can turn adequate inventories on paper into practical scarcity on the streets.
Zoom out, and the timing is troubling. Mexico logged a sharp national rise in newly detected HIV cases this year, according to the federal epidemiology bulletin — more in the first nine months of 2025 than in all of 2024. Quintana Roo, which has long been among the highest in new diagnoses, has also reported hundreds of cases this year while pledging a significant testing push. When incidence climbs, losing even a few weeks on detection can ripple into more transmissions.
What would help now? Fast, targeted delivery of rapid HIV and syphilis tests to the NGOs doing the hard yards, plus security support so field teams can return to high-risk corridors without putting staff in harm’s way. PAHO’s recent call is clear: prioritize syphilis testing alongside HIV, because coinfections are common and missed syphilis carries its own heavy toll, including congenital cases.
