Project to help AIDS sufferers

ON the occasion of World AIDS Day yesterday, a Balearic round-table committee made up of seven different associations, demanded an increase in funding from the government, for specific projects dedicated to the prevention and treatment of this disease, as well as the rehabilitation of sufferers. The president of the Association for the Fight against AIDS in the Balearics (ALAS), Montserrat Tuset, read a declaration on behalf of the committee calling for help from non governmental organisations in launching prevention campaigns. Tuset also asked regional government to support the free supply of condoms and syringes. The president highlighted the need to draw on all resources and set up help programmes for people who have the virus but who wish to take up employment. She confirmed that the aims of the committee include the defence of those who have tested HIV positive and who have become ill with the disease as well as to see that governmental plans to address the issue of AIDS remain in place. The reading of the declaration which took place at Palma City Hall, was attended by the mayor, Catalina Cirer, and the regional Health minister, Aina Castillo. Bad weather prevented the setting up of information tables in the Plaza de España and the launch of “The Condom Road”, an initiative planned in Inca.
The AIDS committee (ALAS) includes in its ranks the Youth Advisory Council which launched its own campaign yesterday entitled “Speak with your Partner”. The principal aim is to raise awareness on the use of condoms in guarding against transmitting the HIV virus. “In spite of knowing that using a condom when having sexual relations prevents contracting the disease, young people aren't using them”, said Andreu Caballero, president of the Youth Council.