Cuba to hold World AIDS Day

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 21 (ACN) "In the face of HIV, community participation makes the difference" is the slogan that this year marks Cuba's celebration of World Day for the response to HIV/AIDS on December 1.

According to a press conference today, the country has the lowest prevalence rate of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Latin America and the Caribbean, and one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere.
Otto Pelaez, deputy director of the National Center for Health Promotion, said that 26.952 people are registered with HIV/AIDS until late November and the provinces with the highest incidence are Havana, Cienfuegos, Las Tunas and Guantanamo.
The most affected are transgender women, men who have sex with men (MSM) and people who engage in transactional sex (in exchange for objects, money or privileges), with 19.7 percent, 5.6 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively, Pelaez said.
Cuba is known in the continent for its control of mother-to-child transmission, in under-14s, in heterosexual men and women, as well as in the early detection of the disease.
The main activities to be held in Havana include the mobilization of social media around STI/HIV/AIDS prevention, film shows in response to the epidemic and social marketing of condoms in municipal pharmacies, among others.
The global slogan for World AIDS Day 2019 is "Communities Make a Difference".