FATICK, Senegal (AP):
SCHOOL CHILDREN in Senegal pledged to abstain from sex, and Indian village women cast off a veil of shame about their HIV status as World AIDS Day was marked around the globe yesterday.
About 40 million people worldwide are now infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Some three million of them are expected to die of AIDS this year. Africa, with only 10 per cent of the world's population, suffers over half of its HIV infections.
Heavily Muslim Senegal is a relatively bright spot on the continent, with only about one per cent of the population infected. Yesterday, dozens of children packed into a schoolhouse in the central Senegal town of Fatick to learn more about the disease.
"Our teacher told us that AIDS is a very dangerous disease," said 13-year old Aissatou Niang, wearing a green headscarf. "Only abstinence can save us," she said as her schoolmates giggled nearby.
"I've decided to wait until I'm 19 to have a relationship," said Awa Sarr. "When I go back home I'll tell my brothers and sisters about AIDS; that's why we're here."
Such frank talk among African children is likely to cheer anti-AIDS campaigners, who say science can help treat those with HIV, but that ignorance or taboos surrounding its transmission and symptoms means AIDS is hard to halt - and treat.
In India, some 70 HIV-infected women stepped out of the shadows during a rally in Golaghat, a town in the eastern Assam state, to acknowledge that they are living with the disease and should not be shunned.
