The National Commission to Combat HIV/AIDS (CNCS-TL) is continuing its campaign to provide university students with information about HIV/AIDS to prevent the spread of the disease.
CNCS-TL Prevention through Education program co-ordinator Atanacio de Jesus said students were the target of the information as they were at highest risk of contracting the virus.
“If we do not share clear information with them, they will be at risk,” he said.
“They are the ones who will be affected by a lack of information.”
He said the program was being extended to districts with rising rates of HIV including Maliana and Baucau.
Ministry of Health data shows that from 2003 to March this year, 426 people were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Timor-Leste.
Of those diagnosed, 41 patients have died while others are taking part in anti-retroviral treatment in health centres and others continue to live in their homes.
Women’s Parliamentary Group of Timor-Leste president Josefa Alvares Pires Soares praised the initiative.
“I think this is important and should not be confined to Dili,” she said.
“This information needs to be shared with all societies so they can be aware of this disease and the impact it has when someone is diagnosed,” she said.
Ministry of Health representative Apolinario Aparacio Guterres said the virus was transmitted through sexual intercourse with an infected person as well as through contact with blood from a sufferer, or from mother to child through breastfeeding or in the womb.
He said the best method of prevention was to practice safe sex.
