Bulgaria Exemplary for Curbing AIDS Spread

Society | November 28, 2006, Tuesday // 00:00
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Exemplary for Curbing AIDS Spread Deputy PM Emel Etem (L) and UNDP Resident Representative Neil Buhne (R) launched Tuesday this year??™s national information anti-AIDS campaign. Photo by Kameliya Atanasova (Sofia Photo Agency)

AIDS can be stopped and Bulgaria is an exemplary case, UNDP Resident Representative Neil Buhne believes.

In the presence of government officials and health experts, he launched Tuesday a national information anti-AIDS campaign to seek better HIV/AIDS prevention awareness in Bulgaria.

This year the initiative, to run until May 2007, will unfold under the motto "It is important to know! It is humane to communicate!"

Neil Buhne pointed at certain prejudice still living among Bulgarians towards issues related to the century's plague. Yet, he quoted Bulgaria as an example for curbing the spread of the deadly disease, unlike Russia and Ukraine.

The national information campaign will poll the efforts of the government, partnering institutions, NGO sector and school all over the country. In will work for sending out 500,000 information postcards, 20,000 placards, 1,000 T-shirts and red ribbons.

"Knowledge and information, as part of HIV prevention, are the key prerequisites for making the change," Deputy Prime Minister Emel Etem said.

In 2006 Bulgaria opened 15 cabinets for free and anonymous AIDS consultancy and medical examination. Nearly 80 new HIV cases were recorded in the country this year, health statistics showed.

A recent Eurobarometer survey, AIDS Prevention, has placed Bulgaria high on the list of EU member and acceding states whose population is well aware of HIV issues.

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