As part of continuous efforts to raise public awareness on HIV and AIDS in Brunei Darussalam as well as other related matters, the Brunei Darussalam AIDS Council (BDAC) will be organising the Red Ribbon Run (RRR) tomorrow, a press release said.

The run will be a platform to spread awareness on the risk factors of HIV, to reduce the stigmatisation of HIV and AIDS in the community, encourage people who are at risk to get themselves tested at government health centres or private clinics, as well as to break the taboo on the issue for better prevention of new infections and their treatments.

The President of BDAC, Awang Iswandy Ahmad, said, "Statistics from the Ministry of Health (MoH) from last year showed that Brunei had its highest annual total number of new HIV cases - 28 cases were recorded, which was double the figure in 2014.

"Out of the 28 cases, seven were women. The increase in the number of cases among women represents a worrying trend, whereas in previous years women represented only a very small minority of HIV cases.

"Brunei has always maintained that the key to response towards the HIV epidemic is through a concerted multi-sectoral approach involving relevant government agencies and other key stakeholders, such as BDAC and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), along with MoH as the lead agency."

"BDAC expresses concern over the marked increase in cases and believes that efforts spearheaded by the ministry to address this issue should have greater support from and collaboration with other government agencies," he added.

"These efforts should focus more on increasing awareness and education on prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), particularly among most at-risk groups, which include youth and men who have sex with men (MSM).

"In regards to this, BDAC believes that the introduction of comprehensive reproductive education in schools could play a big role in reducing the number of HIV cases in the long run.

"At the same time, BDAC also believes that any response should respect and protect the rights of people living with HIV (PLHIV) and most-at-risk members of the population who may suffer from discrimination and stigma based on their status."

All proceeds from the RRR will go towards the betterment of BDAC's existing HIV and AIDS awareness as well as youth empowerment programmes.

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by BruDirect.com

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