AIDS awareness sessions to target parliamentarians and journalists
Regional, Health, 7/19/2003

Awareness sessions against AIDS will be staged for 80 parliamentarians and 40 journalists part of a national strategic plan extending from 2002 to 2004 to fight AIDS.

The sessions will be moderated by the Pan-African Organization against AIDS (OPALS) and the Moroccan anti-AIDS association (ALCS). The aim is to provide the media and law-makers with reliable information that is adapted to the Moroccan cultural context.

Figures released by the two non-governmental organization say the annual progression of AIDS declared cases has been on the rise since 1993, most significantly in Casablanca, Marrakech, Souss Daraa and Tensift El Haouz.

About 70 percent of Moroccans affected by the disease are aged between 20 and 39. Women are often contaminated at an age ranging between 20 and 29 with 30 percent compared to 20 percent for men. The two organizations also say the figures on people affected by HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases do not reflect reality since many cases are not reported by medics in the private sector and because of auto-medication.

The health ministry estimates the rate of auto-medication concerning STD patients at about 50%. Although the rate of HIV prevalence remains low in Morocco, it is feared that there may be a swift increase in the number of persons infected by the disease because of certain indicators.

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