Candlelight vigil to mark World Aids Day

The Malta Medical Students' Association (MMSA) is organising a number of activities to mark World Aids Day.

This year's activities kicked off last Friday with a concert in Bay Street - Have You Heard Me Today? - and a talk for medical student freshers.

A number of outreaches in Marsascala, Gzira, the Hal Far Refugee Centre, the University Campus, the Junior College and Paceville were also held throughout the week, and will wrap up with the one in Valletta on Friday.

A candlelight vigil will be held in Valletta tomorrow, the day when the world unites to mark World Aids Day.

This evening the association is holding a debate about the Female Face of Aids.

The first cases of Aids were discovered in 1981, and since then the number of victims has grown to a staggering 38 million people in 2003. The number of patients in Malta is just over 200.

"But although we've known for a while how the disease is transmitted or not, only recently have we come to realise that women are more prone to infection by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)," the association said.

It said that while scientists around the world were working to find a solution to the epidemic, there was more to be done to prevent it from spreading further, particularly by creating awareness. Education, it said, was the most powerful tool to date, and campaigns tried to limit the number of victims.

This year's international campaign is dedicated to the effects of Aids on women, and carries the slogan Women, Girls, HIV and Aids.

"There are various factors giving women a higher predisposition to HIV infection. The first is that in heterosexual intercourse, females are the receiving partners, and all receiving partners, whether male or female, are at a higher risk of contracting the virus," the association said.

The MMSA said global averages also showed a higher level of education among men than among women, and women, particularly those living in sub-Saharan societies, did not have the freedom to choose safe sex because of impositions from religious or social beliefs. Another reason, the association said, was the lack of availability of female-controlled methods for safe sex like microbicides - substances that can substantially reduce transmission of sexually transmitted infections.

"HIV and Aids is the biggest health disaster in the world today, affecting the lives of millions and potentially threatening the very existence of many communities," the association said.

The MMSA said Aids was a health problem with both medical, social and economic implications, which had recently become a cause for intense social activism among health-care professionals as well as celebrities.

For more information or for confidential testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, one should call the Genito-urinary Clinic at Sir Paul Boffa Hospital on 2122 7981.

www.health.gov.mt/STIPC/guclinic.htm