With or without HIV – equal in rights

The World AIDS Day was marked in Chisinau by an action staged at a mall by the Ministry of Health and a number of nongovernmental organizations that promote the interests of the persons suffering from HIV. This year's theme is “With or Without HIV – Equal in Rights”, Info-Prim Neo reports. About US$2 million from the national funds and the funds of the relevant NGOs is invested annually in combating HIV/AIDS, said Deputy Minister of Health Mihail Magdei. At European level, Moldova is considered a state with a good policy on HIV combating, said national coordinator of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS Gabriela Ionascu. An exhibition was staged on the first floor of the shopping center. A number of NGOs distributed balloons, brochures, calendars, pens and red ribbons symbolizing solidarity with the HIV-infected persons to the visitors. The action attracted the persons who came to the mall. Maria, 21, said it was an opportunity to better understand those who suffer from this disease and to support them. There were persons who did not know that there was an World AIDS Day. According to the Ministry of Health, there are about 6,000 HIV-infected persons in Moldova. In a communique, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says the number of new cases of HIV infection worldwide fell by about 20% during the last ten years. The deaths caused by AIDS decreased in number by about 20% in the last five years, while the total number of persons living with HIV becomes stable. “We are closer to a world in which no child will have to live with HIV as more and more babies are protected from the transmission of the virus from the mother to the fetus,” said UNFPA executive director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid.