Yemen Observer: http://www.yobserver.com
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Sports, Health & Lifestyle
Written By: Observer staff
Article Date: Apr 29, 2008 - 3:10:39 AM
The National Program to Combat AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases officially registered its 2,232 cases of people infected with HIV/AIDS in all Yemeni governorates at the end of 2007. The number was released in the consultative meeting for the effective leaderships in fighting HIV/AIDS on April 25 and was attended by 50 participants from various sectors.
The Director of the program, Dr. Abdul-Hamid al-Suhaibi, showed that the number of HIV/AIDS cases has increased during the last five years, compared with just 151 cases recorded in 2002.
The meeting was organized by the Project to Combat AIDS’ unit in the National Council for Population and the National Program to Combat AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, in cooperation with the World Health Organization.
In the meeting’s opening, Dr. Ahmed Burji, Secretary-General of the National Population Council, announced that this meeting aimed to find out a mechanism for implementing the required interventions that will be contained in the upcoming proposal of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. He also added that it comes in the frame of expanding the consultation base about this disease, which is one of the Millennium Goals.
Dr. Abdul-Hakim al-Kuhlani, the Director of Disease and Epidemic Surveillance in the Ministry of Public Health and Population, said the ministry is seeking to mobilize and involve all the internal and external relevant sectors in fighting against HIV/AIDS. It then aims to prepare and implement the strategies and plans for combating HIV/AIDS.
The Executive Director of the Project to Combat AIDS unit, Abdullah al-Arashi, reviewed the project’s activities during the first phase of the Global Fund’s support by raising awareness among schools, camps and prisons on the dangers of AIDS and ways of its transmission.