FRANCE: France launches campaign to curb spread of HIV
- 00:01:35
- ITN Source
FRANCE: France launches campaign to curb spread of HIV
The French government marked World AIDS Day on on Friday (December 1) with the launch of a campaign to make reduced-cost condoms available in 20 000 outlets nationwide in an effort to curb the spread of HIV. More than 10 million condoms will be available for 20 cents each in over 20,000 sales points accessible to young people, such as high schools, newsagents, night clubs, cinemas and tobacconists. In France condoms were previously only sold in pharmacies. French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand said he hoped the campaign would ensure that safer-sex practices become a "reflex" among the country's population. "(We distributed the condoms) to newsagents so people can find condoms in places where they weren't before so that it becomes a reflex and then quickly becomes a habit," he said after visiting a newsagent where the reduced-priced condoms were on sale. "I think it's important, in these local places where you come every day, to also have the "reflex" for condoms." "Actually, it's excellent, to guard against AIDS", said one man outside the newsagent. Condoms will continue to be sold at the regular price at pharmacies. "There's a college with 1,500 students next door so it's mostly young people who come and buy them," said a pharmacy assistant. "But everyone, in fact, everyone." According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 39.5 million people living with HIV, 2.6 million more than in 2004. The figure includes 2.3 million children. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35. The organisation ACTUP - Aids Coalition to Unleash Power - says there are 3.4 million deaths a year in France due to AIDS and AIDS-related diseases. President Chirac marked the day at an inauguration ceremony of "The Artery, the Gardens of Drawings" in a Paris park. "We are here today to honour the memory of all the victims, to bear witness to our solidarity with everyone touched by AIDS, to raise awareness and conscience," he said ahead of the inauguration. "The struggle against AIDS is a daily fight, a fight for humanity, a fight for life." The artwork is a giant puzzle of 1,000 square metres of thousands of ceramic tiles relating to the fight against AIDS. World AIDS Day was started in 1988, aimed at increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. Originally organised by UNAIDS, responsibility was handed over in 2005 to The World AIDS Campaign, an independent organisation. This year's theme is "accountability" and is designed to inspire citizens across the globe to hold their political leaders accountable for the promises they have made on AIDS.
ITN Source | December 2, 2006
