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SOUTH AFRICA: Government hands out millions of AIDS booklets

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 3 June (PLUSNEWS) - South Africa's government is distributing 11 million HIV/AIDS and treatment booklets as part of its national action plan against the disease.

The 49-page booklet, in the country's 11 official languages, contains detailed information on how the HI virus is transmitted, how infection can be avoided and what antiretroviral treatment consists of.

Thami Skenjana, director of the government's AIDS Action Plan, said prevention messages remained the foundation of the government's HIV/AIDS communications, as an overwhelming majority of South Africans were not infected with HIV.

"Our utmost priority is to mobilise all South Africans to know our HIV status by going for voluntary counselling and testing. This enables us to manage our health — whether or not we are infected with HIV," the South African Press Association quoted Skenjana as saying.

[ENDS]

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