'Alarming increase in AIDS infection in Algeria'

Algiers, Dec 1: Alarmed by the meteoric rise in AIDs infected people in Algeria, an health organisation of Algeria has said that ignorance about AIDs has let to the spread of the disease in the country.

"The epidemic of HIV/AIDS is progressing at an alarming rate in Algeria. Thousands of people are infected without knowing it," said Scander Abdelakader Soufi, president of the Association to Fight Sexually Transmissible Diseases and AIDS (AnisS).

Prescribing a public awareness campaign to combat the disease and psychological measures to those infected, Sofi said that large scale testing will help in finding out the actual number of those infected.

Rap star Lofti Double Kanon, member of ANISS, said that a dependency on internet has contributed to rise in the disease among the youth.

"It's unthinkable that there is no discussion between parents and their children on sexual education. Yet young people surf the Internet, which whets their appetite," he said, adding that many of them are ignorant about the use of condom.

According to health ministry report 4,084 tested HIV-positive at the end of Oct and 1,011 people had developed AIDS in Algeria.

The report has caused a major concern as two-third of Algerian population is under 40.

OneIndia News