Aline Bastos
Reporter - Agência Brasil

New York - Yesterday (1), at the United Nations (UN) Conference on HIV and AIDS, the minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, called for the adoption of preventive strategies on behalf of women and socially vulnerable groups. The Brazilian chancellor pointed out that the use of condoms continues to represent a scientifically valid means to avert transmission of the disease.

"Prevention should cover vulnerable groups - homosexuals, drug users, and sex workers - who are frequently stigmatized and discriminated in many societies," Amorim affirmed during the special UN session in New York.

The UN Conference on HIV and AIDS began on Wednesday (31) and ends today (2). Over 191 delegations are using the meeting to plan a global strategy to combat the pandemic in the coming decade.

One of the objectives of the special session is to renew the global commitment assumed in 2001 to deal with the epidemic, which affects over 38 million people worldwide and 1.2 million Brazilians.
The numbers of victims are World Bank estimates.

Translation: David Silberstein