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Friday, December 01, 2006
AIDS Day in the Canary Islands
The majority of you will probably be aware that today is World AIDS Day. This article tells us that between 120 and 130 people are diagnosed with the HIV virus in the Canary Islands each year.
The good news (if there can be any) is that the prevalence of the disease in the archipelago, at 21 cases per million inhabitants, is well below the national average of 34 cases per million.
The bad news is health services calculate that thirty people are infected each year, but that many do not know until years later, when they begin to develop the disease, meaning that the mortality rate remains high. Since they began counting in 1984, 1,953 cases of AIDS have been registered in the Canary Islands, 40% of whom have died.
Most cases have, until recently, been men, but health services are advising that infection is now progressing to women and that infections via heterosexual contact have increased. Three out of four infections, both in men and women, are via sexual contact and, the most affected group are aged between 20 and 40 years.
The Health Council in the islands is taking a three-pronged approach with respect to their campaign for World AIDS Day this year; respect for those who have HIV/AIDS, promotion of condom use and the necessity of testing to prevent the current situation where people are finding out too late, after the disease has developed.
Dos de cada diez infecciones de Sida en Canarias no se diagnostican hasta años después
