AFRICA: DEM. REP. OF CONGO: AIDS TREATMENT CENTER TO OPEN TOMORROW

Agenzia Fides REPORT - According to the latest UNAIDS report 2010, the world begins to register a reversal of the spread of the HIV epidemic. In recent years more than 5 million people in the southern countries of the world have had access to antiretroviral therapy, thanks to international efforts by various international agencies, NGOs, and different countries. However, in Congo, where it is estimated that more than 500 000 people living with HIV/AIDS, much remains to be done. Among the latest achievements in the field, a center for the treatment of HIV/AIDS in the city of Kinshasa, capital of the country, which has about 10 million inhabitants is opening. The center is called DREAM (Drug Resource Enhancement against Aids and Malnutrition) which is situated in Bibwa, in a neighborhood inhabited by over 300 thousand people not served by other treatment centers. The Centre is part of a program of public health care and operational research in ten African countries, involving nearly two million beneficiaries and is a program of global fight, control, prevention and treatment against HIV infection in countries with limited resources. Antiviral treatment is in itself the true and effective prevention, with its potential to eliminate the virus from the plasma and all body fluids, and drastically reduce the infectivity of those hit by the virus and reduce the possibility of infection. The Centre is the result of a collaboration agreement signed by the Community of Sant'Egidio with the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is committed to providing the drugs for the treatment. The DREAM program has already been in the country since 2009, with a treatment center in Mbandaka, in the region of the Equator.

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