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3rd Forum AIDS and Brazil will take place on November 9

by Richard Meckien - published Oct 27, 2015 03:05 PM - - last modified Nov 04, 2015 11:05 AM
Rights: Original version in Portuguese by Mauro Bellesa

Journalists and experts will gather on November 9 in order to discuss the importance of information in the fight against AIDS. The 3rd Forum AIDS and Brazil has been organized by Portal Imprensa in partnership with the IEA, UNAIDS and the Department of STD, AIDS and Viral Hepatitis of the Ministry of Health. The guests will discuss how the access to information may end up with taboos among young people in relation to sex.

Since the first edition of the forum, Portal Imprensa seeks to revisit the news agenda on AIDS. In the 80s and 90s, the disease was a constant theme in news reporting. One effect of this was the emergence of the habit of often talk about sex, HIV and other everyday matters of youth. This habit, however, seems to have decreased, while records of HIV infection among young people have been increasing.

According to the Ministry of Health research, AIDS cases in Brazil among people aged 15-24 have increased 40% from 2006 to 2015. The survey revealed that 94% of Brazilians know that condoms are the best way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, but almost half of the respondents (45%) did not use condoms during casual sex they had the year before.

At the forum, vloggers Danilo Leonardi and Nelson Sheep will talk about the power of the Internet in the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Atila Iamarino will opine on the effectiveness of anti-AIDS campaigns, while Cristine Kist will comment on the role of media in combating HIV. The increase in the number of young people with HIV in Brazil will be handled by Gabriel Estrëla, actor and creator of the project Boa Sorte (Good Luck), Antonio Nardi and Alexandre Santos, both from the Ministry of Health's Secretariat of Health Surveillance.

AIDS in Brazil

Fábio Mesquita, director of the Department of STD, AIDS and Viral Hepatitis, says that "the most vulnerable in this context has been the young. In Brazil, although the AIDS epidemic is stable nationally, the fact that in the last 10 years there is a significant increase in AIDS detection rate among people aged 15-24 (from 9.6 per 100 thousand inhabitants in 2004 to 12.7 in 2013) draws attention."

UNAIDS, the UN program on HIV, says that Brazil now faces a major challenge: to raise awareness and mobilize the youth about the importance of HIV prevention and the elimination of discrimination.