Brasília, 12/2/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - "The first step in the fight against AIDS is to end discrimination," was the phrase minister of Health, Humberto Costa, wrote on a quilt that 300 school children extended in Brasilia's central plaza (Praça dos Três Poderes) which is bordered by buildings housing all three branches of government. The enormous quilt was a symbol of solidarity and a homage to the 100,000 Brazilians who have died of AIDS.

The minister declared that the good news was that the government's program to control the disease had been so sucessful that the country only had half the cases of AIDS that international organizations predicted it would have.

Costa announced that the ministry was negotiating price reductions on AIDS drugs or seeking to produce them domestically in order to continue the program.

One of the highlights of the presentation of the quilt was the presence of a samba school that played a samba in favor of the use of condoms with the title, "It's a sin not to use it." (AB)