World AIDS Day commemorated
Today is World Aids Day. It is being commemorated annually from 1988.
The theme for World AIDS Day 2010 is ‘Universal Access and Human Rights’. Global leaders have pledged to work towards universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and care, recognising these as fundamental human rights.. Today over 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS.
World AIDS Day comes at an important time when the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic has been broken and fewer people being infected with HIV are being witnessed. Among young people, in 16 of the most severely affected countries, the rate of new HIV infections has fallen by more than 25 percent as a result of young people adopting safer sexual practices.
Sri Lanka is one of the countries where rate of HIV infection has remained stable between 2001 and 2009. However, despite the low HIV prevalence, Sri Lanka has a number of vulnarabilities including low condom use, presence of populations engaged in commercial sex high mobility and lack of knowledge among other, which suggests that it may not be maintained if action is not taken.
