AIDS Commission: 77 new infections in Bz. District

The reports on HIV/AIDS infections for Belizeans between October and December are out, and as usual, the numbers are both frightening and depressing. According to the survey, ninety-three more Belizeans have tested positive with the deadly disease. The breakdown is as follows: there were seventy-seven new infections in Belize City alone, four in Orange Walk, three in the Cayo District, eight in Stann Creek, and one in the Toledo District. According to the National AIDS Commission, efforts are being increased countrywide to curb the alarming rates.

Rodel Beltran Perera, Nat’l AIDS Commission

“You’ll see some changes in our publicity and stepping up our publicity. Radio announcements will be much more than before, we’ll see much more too on television, we need the media to help us out with this too. Another part of our steeping up of efforts is that we have hired a number of consultants to put in place as soon as possible a number of projects that need to go abroad for funding. Those consultants are working very hard on it, we have met as a commission, we’ve put them together. Different sectors have come together, the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Education, the NGO sector, where we’ve come together to see what needs to be done in a number of areas.”

In related news, a twenty-five member committee has been formed in Belmopan as one way of producing ideas to get the community involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS, especially in terms of giving support to people who are already aware of their condition. The latest statistics takes the total number of reported HIV cases in Belize to one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-six.