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