Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Madrid (Agenzia Fides) - On the occasion of World Day to Fight AIDS, which is celebrated on December 1 next, UNAIDS, the UN agency that deals with the pandemic, today reported that people with HIV live longer and the number of deaths related with this disease, defined chronic, has decreased dramatically due to the effects of antiretroviral therapy. In Africa there are millions of children living with HIV, orphaned at an early age. Among the initiatives carried out by the Spanish Catholic organization Manos Unidas it is worth noting the great efforts of the clinic for AIDS patients in the Padre Pio center in Kampala, Uganda, where the sick are cured, even at home by social workers. The clinic in Gabba, which belongs to the Center, is just one of many projects for the prevention and treatment of AIDS that Manos Unidas supports in Africa, Asia and America. According to the latest UNAIDS statistics, at the end of 2010, there were about 34 million people living with HIV and 2.7 million were infected around the world. 68% of all HIV-positive live in Africa, among them 390 thousand are children. The incidence of HIV is recorded in 33 countries, 22 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, the region hardest hit by AIDS where since 1998 at least one million people have died because of the pandemic. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 29/11/2011)
