Asia-Pacific

Brazil to launch anti-AIDS campaign in South Africa

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-01 09:51

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday that it will launch an anti-AIDS campaign in South Africa, where the FIFA World Cup is underway.    

The initiative, named "Score a Goal -- Brazil and South Africa in the field against AIDS," is to be officially launched on Friday, in the Public Viewing, a site in Johannesburg where the population gathers to watch the World Cup matches.    

The campaign is to last until July 18, one week after the end of the World Cup.    

According to Mariangela Simao, head of the STD (sexually transmitted disease), AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Department under the Brazilian Health Ministry, the idea is share Brazil's  experience in AIDS prevention with the South Africans.  

A total of 18 percent of South African population is HIV positive, according to the United Nations. In Brazil, that share falls to 0.6 percent of the population.    

A bus from the Ministry will circulate in several South African towns distributing condoms and informing the local population of the ways to prevent AIDS and STDs in general.