SUDAN: Govt/UNICEF AIDS awareness initiative kicks off

The government of Sudan and the UN Children's Fund have launched a national HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, as the pandemic is jeopardising the role of young adults in the country's future.

Minister of Information Zahawi Ibrahim Malik told a gathering at the local UNICEF headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, that some 600,000 men and women under the age of 25 were living with the HI virus.

The Sudanese government and the former rebel group, Sudan People's Liberation Army, signed a peace agreement in January, ending a 21-year civil war that claimed over two million lives, mostly through related famine and disease.

Malik was quoted by Associated Press as saying, "If the disease kills the future generations, then the peace agreement would be useless."

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews,

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