SECOND only to the Spanish city of Melilla in North Africa, the Balearics has the highest rate of people who have developed full-blown AIDS, in the country.
The regional ministry for Health and Consumer Affairs, confirmed yesterday that figures stand at 71.8 cases per million inhabitants, and that over the last 23 years, 2'023 cases of the HIV virus have been registered in the Balearics, 1'085 of which have died.
The latest report presented yesterday by minister Aina Castillo, indicated that on Majorca, 1'629 cases have been registered since 1981, representing 80.5 percent of the total for the Balearics. During the same period, on Ibiza and Formentera, there have been 271 people who developed AIDS (13.4%), while on Minorca 105 cases were documented (5.2%).
The study shows that half of those who contracted AIDS in the Balearics over the last 23 years have been addicts who inject drugs intravenously and have contracted the disease through the use of sharing syringes. In terms of the total, homosexuals represent 20.7 percent of the AIDS cases and heterosexuals, 19.2 percent.
The Ministry of Health pointed to the decline in the number of cases of AIDS which have emerged since 1995, the year when 209 instances came to light, the highest point on the scale. Since then, the graph has been on the downturn and in 2003, only 64 cases were documented.
In spite of this reduction, the Balearics still heads up the national black list, in front of Madrid (70.8 cases per million inhabitants); La Rioja (63.3) and the Basque Country (62.6).
Minister Aina Castillo reported that in 2005, her department is to allocate 244'783 euros to the Balearic AIDS Plan, four percent more than this year.
The ministry has also proposed subsidising non-governmental agencies as an acknowledgement of the role they place in combatting the spread of the disease. These include the Balearic Assocation for the Fight against AIDS.
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