Wide scale action needed to fight AIDS in ME, experts
Regional, Health, 9/23/2004

Only a wide scale action associated with science-based policies and an active contribution of civil society and media professionals could reverse the rising trend of HIV/AIDS, several experts said here Tuesday.

Participants in a regional workshop on the role of artists and the media in fighting AIDS in the Arab states said some 480,000 people are infected by the HIV in North Africa and the Middle east.

They deplored the lack of systematic checking for the virus, particularly in high risk groups, stressing fighting AIDS is an urgent matter to secure long-run development.

Participants highlighted that young people needing shelter, schooling and access to health care, are vulnerable to the illness.

Discrimination against people affected by AIDS is a stumbling block in the way of the fight of the pandemic, participants noted.

The five day workshop, to wind up on September 24, is sponsored by the regional program on fighting AIDS in the Arab states (Harpas) and is part of the UNDP efforts in this field.

The gathering, attended by artists and media representatives from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Djibouti, aims at promoting awareness on rights of persons and fighting discrimination against people affected by AIDS as well as creating networks likely to enhance the fight of the disease.

Previous Stories:
  Damascus meeting on role of religious leaders in fighting HIV/AIDS in the Arab states   (8/14/2004)
  World Bank warns of spread of HIV/AIDS in Middle East, North Africa   (11/21/2003)
  African women 175 times as likely to die in childbirth   (10/21/2003)

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