Panafrican News Agency - December 2, 2001
Between January and October 2001, the Libyan National Committee against HIV/AIDS (CNLLS) recorded 319 new infections. Of these, 266 were males, 45 women and eight children.
Foreign communities living in Libya have also been stricken by the disease, the CNLLS reported.
Of the recorded foreign cases, 29 were Nigerians, three Palestinians, 15 Ghanaians, 14 Chadians, seven from Niger, two Malians, two Moroccans, seven Sudanese, three Egyptians and nine Algerians.
Also one case was recorded among nationals of each of the following countries - India, Pakistan, Bengal, Gambia, Senegal, Burkina Faso, C|te d'Ivoire and Mauritania.
Libya detected its first AIDS case in 1981 but the local television reported news about HIV/AIDS three years later. Discussion about the disease is still taboo in many Arab-Muslim nations.
In December 2000, the CNLLS reported 1,852 HIV/AIDS cases. In its 2001 report, the committee has revealed that 319 of the infected persons were Libyans and a hundred or so were foreigners living in the country.
In an interview with PANA, the president of the Libyan National Committee against AIDS, Abdallah Amiche, acknowledged the alarming nature of the figures recorded this year.
He said the committee decided to expand the testing network and intensify HIV/AIDS awareness programmes in schools, mosques, universities and other public places through radio and television programmes.
Amiche said several other actions were in the pipeline, including Arabic translation of WHO scientific reports and circulars on HIV/AIDS and their distribution throughout the country.
He explained that the disease was spreading in Libya mainly through sexual relations and use of needles which were not sterilised.
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