Bulgaria joins in marking World AIDS Day
The Bulgarian Red Cross Youth joined in marking World AIDS Day on December 1, encouraging people in Sofia to take anonymous and free HIV/AIDS tests.
A mobile laboratory offering tests and consultations was scheduled to be open at Sveta Nedelya Square in the Bulgarian capital city until 3pm.
Bulgarian Red Cross Youth volunteers handed out information brochures and free condoms.
A ribbon made of candles was scheduled to be lit outside the National Palace of Culture, NDK, at 6pm.
For World AIDS Day on December 1, the World Health Organisation has launched new HIV recommendations to increase testing, counselling, treatment and care for adolescents.
More than two million adolescents between 10 and 19 years old are living with HIV, and many do not receive the care and support that they need to stay in good health and prevent transmission, WHO said.
The failure to support effective and acceptable HIV services for adolescents has resulted in a 50 per cent increase in reported AIDS-related deaths worldwide in this group compared with the 30 per cent decline seen in the general population from 2005 to 2012, WHO said.
New WHO recommendations released in the run-up to World AIDS Day 2013 are the first to address the specific needs of adolescents, both for those living with HIV and those who are at risk of infection.
(Photo: David Dallaqua)
