To mark World AIDS Day on 1 December, Egypt has been used to conduct a nationwide advocacy campaign aimed at raising awareness about HIV/AIDS. Judging from the yet prevailing negative stigma surrounding those who suffer from the disease, however, much more needs to be done.
This year, the United Nations (UN) in Egypt has launched activities in 15 governorates in Egypt for the 2016 National Campaign against AIDS.
The campaign aims at encouraging young people to engage with civil society and other stakeholders to spread awareness about HIV and services available in Egypt, disseminate key messages of awareness in order to encourage young people to carry out testing of HIV as a major step toward prevention and treatment, and strengthen the role of society and the media in educating young people and to promote healthy behaviour.
The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Egypt has signed a protocol of cooperation, under the aegis of the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population, with two radio stations that enjoy wide audience in the country: Nile FM and Nogoum FM.
The two stations will be official partners of the national campaign to fight HIV/AIDS in 2016, which is launched by the UN programme and Egypt’s national HIV programme. The main aim of the protocol is to spread awareness and eliminate the negative stigma.
According to a global report released by UNAIDS, the number of new HIV infections in 2015 was estimated to be 2.1 million. The numbers in Egypt in 2014 indicate that those registered with HIV are almost 8,800, whereas the total figure including non-registered patients is 11,000. Egypt is still experiencing an annual rise in the number of new infections.
Watani International
4 December 2016