Increased AIDS Alarm in
El Salvador
The Public Health
Ministry in El Salvador
confirmed that from
January to October more
than 1,800 new AIDS
cases were registered,
higher than the same
period in 2006.
The increased number of
HIV infected persons
corresponds to a greater
access to medical
examinations, affirmed
Francisco Ortiz,
director of the
Foundation for
Prevention, Education
and Accompaniment with
persons with HIV AIDS (FUNDASIDA).
However, strong
preventive work is
necessary to reduce
contagion, mainly among
the young population,
the activist warned.
The Public Health
Ministry pointed out
that according to the
current tendency 7.2
Salvadorans are infected
daily, the highest
figure since the
pandemic began in that
Central American nation
during the mid 80s.
Last year 338 persons
were reported dead as a
result of the disease
and one thousand were
hospitalized.
The UN considers that
the situation could be
reversed by 2015 but one
of the obstacles
continues to be
discrimination and
stigmatization.
FUNDASIDA, for its part,
warns that the number of
layoffs of persons with
the disease has
increased in many work
centers.
Ortiz assured that the
State only focuses on
AIDS through the health
services when, in fact,
it should set up
mechanisms of education
to inform the population
and those who have the
disease to have a true
social harmony. |
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