matrixgyal
Hardcore Belizean
Joined: 09 Dec 2002
Posts: 3842
Location: Chicago
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 Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 10:25 am Post subject: Guatemala Lacks Funds to Fight AIDS |
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Guatemala Lacks Funds to Fight AIDS
Guatemala, Dec 1 (Prensa Latina) Twenty-four years after the first AIDS case was reported in Guatemala, HIV continues to spread due to insufficient funds for programs to prevent and fight the disease, experts said.
Although health authorities have reported 16,825 HIV cases, other institutions, including the National Program on the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, claim that the number of cases may exceed 66,000.
Maria Tallarico, representative of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Guatemala, said both reports are conservative, and called on authorities to make greater efforts to collect more accurate statistics.
Tallarico warned that if the State does not allocate more funds to prevent the disease from spreading, it will become an epidemic.
In addition to detection, educational programs on prevention, especially among youths, who are the most vulnerable sector, are needed, she added.
In Guatemala, 94 percent of HIV transmissions are sexual, because people are not aware of the need for safe sex.
The most affected departments, in addition to the capital, are those along the so-called immigration corridor, which includes eastern Guatemala, the Pacific coast and the Mexican border.
However, a study carried out this year among 1,000 pregnant women detected 42 cases in faraway regions, so the disease has spread nationwide.
ost programs to provide care to HIV carriers or full-blown AIDS patients are carried out in urban areas, thus the difficulties to fight the disease.
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