People called on to fight AIDS

People called on to fight AIDS

JAKARTA: The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Southeast
Asian countries called on the public "to step up efforts to fight
AIDS" at the conclusion of their three-day international meeting
here on Friday.

"We have agreed to increase our role in preventing an AIDS
epidemic in Southeast Asia by campaigning against the spreading
illness," said Iyang D. Sukandar, secretary general of the
Indonesian Red Cross.

Sixty delegates from the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
in Southeast Asia, and also from the Brussels-based Red Cross
International Federation, attended the meeting.

Discrimination against individuals with AIDS was another
concern for the societies, which voiced their commitment to wage
a war against any acts of discrimination.

Didier Cherpitel, the secretary-general of the Red Cross
International Federation, said the Red Cross, the Red Crescent
and the International Federation had committed to overcome the
pandemic through prevention, care, treatment and support to those
affected.

A global campaign to combat discrimination against individuals
with AIDS will be launched during World Red Cross Day on May 8.
-- JP