Under the auspices of His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, the Kingdom is hosting the activities of the meeting of the Technical Committee for Drafting the Arab anti-AIDS Strategy tomorrow at Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh. The meeting is organized under the umbrella of the League of Arab States (LAS), in collaboration with the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It is going to be attended by a constellation of experts, organizations’ representatives, as well as activists in combating AIDS, aiming at exchanging experiences among the Arab Countries and discovering efficient means to curb the spread of the disease, aside from supporting those patients suffering from this disease.
The Ministry of Health (MOH), representing the Kingdom's National Program for Combating AIDS, announced launching the Ca campaign: “Modifying the Dangerous Behavior Related to HIV/AIDS Transmission” in its three stages. The campaign aims to educate all members of society to participate in achieving the theme of the World AIDS Day: “Zero AIDS”, through broadcasting various messages via mass media, hospitals and various public facilities in the Kingdom; so as to curb the spread of the disease and continue the march of conveying the message of how to change behavior through the celebration of the World AIDS Day on the first of December every year.
The MOH Undersecretary of Public Health, Dr. Ziad bin Ahmed Memish, has pointed out that Ministry embarked, last year (1433H), on implementing this multi-stage campaign dubbed: “Modifying the Dangerous Behavior Related to HIV/AIDS Transmission” that makes the individual more vulnerable to the infection with this virus “HIV/AIDS”. Besides, he affirmed that the Ministry adopts the same messages advocated by the international organizations involved in combating AIDS in the three stages of the campaign. Such messages have received much interest, and were reckoned a health objective the Ministry of Health is seeking after, in concordance with the global objectives; in an endeavor to achieve the global development goals.
Dr. Memish has stressed that the goals are to be achieved through adopting the proper behavior and modifying all other ones that may make the individual prone to AIDS infection. In this way, two main goals of this campaign could be attained; the first is modifying the dangerous behavior and replacing it with safe one, in addition to accelerating the progress towards achieving the Millennium’s development goals for combating AIDS.
Furthermore, The Supervisor General of MOH’s AIDS Program and Chairman of the Saudi Charity Association for AIDS Patients, Dr. Sanaa bint Mustafa Filimban, has pointed out that the Saudi Charity Association for AIDS Patients has contributed with the National Program to combating AIDS during the stages of changing the dangerous behavior. This can be fulfilled through a number of events to activate the role and importance of educating people how to reduce the transmission of the virus from an infected person to a healthy one. In Addition, she underscored the importance of the early treatment in maintaining the level of immunity in the patient's body, as well as the responsibility of the community members to provide themselves and their families with various types of support.