Call for respect of economic and social rights of people with AIDS

Call for respect of economic and social rights of people with AIDS

Thursday, 01 December 2011 18:01
.. .PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (defend.ht) - Commemorating World AIDS Day December 1st, organizations involved in prevention against worldwide pandemic held Wednesday in Port-au-Prince an outreach activity to encourage Haitians Parliamentarians to pass the law on the Rights economic and social rights of persons with AIDS.


Officials from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, Center for Protection of Women Workers and NGO Volunteer Development in Haiti (VDH) on Wednesday pleaded for a better treatment for people with AIDS in Haiti and stressed the importance of testing.


The representative of a platform of associations of people living with HIV, Védrile Strauss, has made clear the need to take into account the economic and social rights of those infected.


"We must stop the stigma and discrimination of HIV in our society," he stressed, before denouncing the parliamentarians, he said, seem to forget about the bill on the issue of HIV / AIDS, filed for about two years in Parliament.


According to the representative of the International Labour Office (ILO) in Haiti, Richard Lavallee, quoting statistics, in 2009, 120,000 persons were registered with the AIDS virus with 118 000 adults. These infections, he said, particularly affects women at a rate of 53%.


The previous year 10 800 new infections and 7,730 people were identified with the virus. A number of 24,000 persons were under treatment. Currently, he informed, the prevalence rate in the country is 2.1% ranging from 1.4% to 3% in various cities in countryside.


In the Caribbean, Haiti is the second most heavily affected countries by HIV / AIDS behind the Bahamas, said Mr. Lavallee.


Researches advance in order to fight against this devastating epidemic. Treatments in poor countries is very expensive, most people with HIV do not. Prevent new infections of HIV and reduce its impact on those already infected are, among others, the main concerns of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour