ZAGREB, Nov 29 (Hina) - With 216 people suffering from AIDS and 386 infected with HIV since 1986, Croatia is among the countries with a low occurrence of the disease which claimed three million lives world-wide last year alone,
reporters were told on Friday on the occasion of Dec. 1, World AIDS Day.
ZAGREB, Nov 29 (Hina) - With 216 people suffering from AIDS and 386
infected with HIV since 1986, Croatia is among the countries with a
low occurrence of the disease which claimed three million lives
world-wide last year alone, reporters were told on Friday on the
occasion of Dec. 1, World AIDS Day. #L#
Since logging the first case of AIDS 1986, 111 people have died in
Croatia while less than 10 new patients are logged annually, the
head of the AIDS Reference Centre, Josip Begovac, told the press
conference at Zagreb's Fran Mihaljevic clinic.
Currently 179 patients, including five children, are taking
medication, which is paid for by the Croatian Public Health
Institute, Begovac said.
He pointed, however, to the stigma attached to and the
discrimination against people suffering from AIDS in Croatia.
The head of the U.N. Development Programme, Cornelius Klein, said
that despite all the efforts the world was losing the battle with
AIDS. He cited Croatia as a good example of fighting the disease,
notably given that it is a transit country and a tourist
destination, and in view of the high rise of AIDS in Central and
Eastern Europe.
Dunja Skoko-Poljak of the Health Ministry presented an anti-AIDS
project comprised of 15 programmes for prevention and work with
risk groups and youth. Croatia is due to receive more than US$3
million from the Global AIDS Fund for the project over the next
couple of years.
According to World Health Organisation data, between 34 and 46
million people world-wide are HIV-infected. The situation is the
worst in Africa's sub-tropic zones, where 25-28 million of the
infected live.
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