Over 400,000 youths, women benefited from HIV/AIDS awareness-raising campaign in 2005

[sbs]

awareness-raising campaign in 2005
Casablanca, Dec. 6- Some 410,000 youths and women and 32,000 HIV/AIDS vulnerable groups have been sensitized in 2005 part of the Health Ministry communication campaign dubbed "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Some 1,200 persons have been diagnosed and treated for free by antiretroviral drug part of a program of therapeutic education to improve the compliance of HIV/AIDS patients to treatment through antiretroviral drugs, according to the Ministry.

The Health Ministry has decided to reinforce decentralization and caring for the affected persons, the prevention of HIV transmission from the mother to child, and psycho-social caring for people living with AIDS, in cooperation with NGOs and concerned departments.

Speaking to the press, here on Monday, Health Minister, Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah said Morocco has elaborated a national chart in order to concretize the efforts made in the period 2001-2005 to counter AIDS.

This chart was signed by the Ministry, TV and radio officials, and the federation of newspaper editors to develop the culture of prevention among citizens against the imminent risk of this lethal disease, he said.

Speaking on this occasion, the World Health Organization representative for the MENA region, Ben Ammar said the experience of Morocco in this field deserves to be a model for countries of the region.

Figures of the Health Ministry show that Morocco counted some 16,000 to 20,000 HIV/AIDS cases in 2005.

The chairwoman of the "Association de Lutte Contre le Sida" (ALCS), Hakima Himmich, has recently warned that the pandemic growing infection rate went up from eight pc in 1988 to 38% in 2004.

AIDS infection in the Agadir region, Western Morocco, she said, is higher than that in the big city of Casablanca.

[razrif]

Very
very
commendable

[-thetruth_]

I saw that on TV. very profesional and deserve a praise