EDUCATION: A VACCINE FOR HIV/AIDS

摘要

Unknown 20 years ago, AIDS is now the number one cause of death among young adults in the world. The evolution of the epidemic has consistently exceeded the most pessimistic predictions. Today almost 40 million people are infected and AIDS orphans number more than 13 million. In the absence of a vaccine or a treatment that can cure the disease, prevention remains the best antidote, WHO estimates that two-thirds of infections likely to occur between now and 2010 can be avoided if prevention strategies are reinforced. Much has already been done. Many countries have integrated AIDS education in school curricula Millions of dollars have been invested in projects aimed at high-risk populations and campaigns for the general public. The city of Paris recently put up posters showing a tourist on a beach, surrounded by exotic beauties. Almost a banal souvenir postcard, except that the floral wreath he wears around his neck is a funeral wreath. Despite all these efforts, ignorance about HIV/AIDS and its means of transmission remains daunting. In Mali, Benin and Haiti, 40% of young girls do not know how to protect themselves. (DHS, 1998-2002). Even people who are the most exposed often continue to deny the gravity of the disease. More than 90% of Haitian adolescents, for instance, think that the risk of their contracting the virus is low or even non-existent, when the country has one of the highest rates of the disease after sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS).