Brazilian President Calls for No Let Up in Fight Against AIDS

Brazil should not give an inch in its fight against AIDS, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said Tuesday at a ceremony commemorating World AIDS Day. Despite a prediction a decade ago by the World Bank that Brazil would have 1.2 million HIV-infected people by 2000, "we have arrived at 2002 with 600,000 cases, so we have avoided having another 600,000 people infected with the virus," Cardoso said. The government distributes 12 AIDS drugs free to AIDS patients. While Brazil has the largest number of AIDS patients in Latin America, and some 210,500 Brazilians have been diagnosed with AIDS since 1980, the annual number of deaths has fallen from 11,024 to 4,136 in only four years. Brazil also has an aggressive prevention policy and has distributed 300 million free condoms in the past 11 months. The Health Ministry has distributed free female condoms for four years; Brazilian women use about 70 percent of the world's female condoms, Cardoso said.

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