DRC: Millions secured to step up AIDS control

A US $102 million financing agreement has been signed between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the World Bank to step up the fight against HIV/AIDS in the country.

The Bank's director of Africa operations, Emmanuel Mbiy, said the Bank aims to avert a disaster in the Great Lakes region as the spread of HIV/AIDS had reached "appalling proportions". This was largely due to the conflicts which have ravaged the DRC since the mid 1990s.

Mbiy was quoted by the Pan African News Agency as saying: "The HIV/AIDS epidemic has taken worrying proportions in the DRC and might even wreak havoc in the entire Central African region."

Research shows that HIV/AIDS now affects 17 out of 100 patients admitted to hospitals in the DRC.

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews, Children,

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