AIDS stats show levelling of new cases

Present for this morning’s launch of the B.D.F. initiative was Director of the National AIDS Programme Dr. Marvin Manzanero. In his presentation Manzanero reported that up to September 2006, there were three hundred and twenty-three new HIV infections and they’ve projected that by the end of the year that number will rise to four hundred and thirty-one. The 2006 figure is in the same range as 2005’s four hundred and thirty-four. Statistics also show that in 2005 AIDS was the fourth leading cause of death for persons age twenty to twenty-nine and ranked as the number one killer of those age thirty to forty-nine years old. The news, however, is not all grim; Manzanero says it’s encouraging that more Belizeans are getting tested.

Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director, National AIDS Programme