‘Prevention is best policy against Aids’

Prevention is the best policy when it comes to tackling Aids, said development aid minister Bert Koenders at the international Aids conference in Mexico City on Monday evening.


In a report of his speech on the foreign ministry’s website, Koenders says that the number of Aids deaths has fallen for the first time in 25 years.
‘This underlines the fact that the Netherlands’ efforts have paid off and that thousands of lives have been saved with Dutch taxpayers’ money. This is effective development aid,’ he is quoted as saying.
But the minister warns that although much has been achieved, two million people worldwide still died ‘unnecessarily’ from Aids last year.
Koenders says that the Dutch approach to the disease with its emphasis on prevention is both effective and economically sound.
Providing information about Aids plays a central role in the Dutch approach, says the ministry website. Therefore the Netherlands gives special attention to groups that are discriminated against in many countries, such as prostitutes, drug users, immigrants and homosexual men.
Over 20,000 campaigners, government officials and scientists from around the world have gathered at the 17th Aids conference to discuss issues such as funding, treatment, prevention and social issues surrounding Aids.

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