Latin America seeks consensual approach to AIDS/STD

12/01/2006 - 14h37

Keite Camacho
Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – Yesterday representives of 19 Latin American countries began discussions on how to achieve universal access to anti-retroviral drugs for treating AIDS, and remedies for dealing with and preventing other sexually transmitted diseases (STD). The meeting, the first of its kind in the region, will draw up a list of proposals to be presented to the UN in May.

According to World Health Organization data, at least 300,000 people in Latin America and the Caribbean are using anti-retrovirals to treat AIDS, with 170,000 of them in Brazil

Pedro Chequer, the head of Brazil's AIDS/STD Program (Programa Nacional de DST - Doenças sexualmente transmissíveis - /AIDS) declared that he hopes the continent can reach a consensus. He also called on participants to reject non-scientific approaches, such as the refusal to use condoms for religious, philosophical or cultural reasons.

As for the Brazilian AIDS/STD Program, Chequer reported that the average cost of treatment continues to rise sharply, going from US$1,350 per patient in 2003, to US$2,500 in 2005.

Translation: Allen Bennett