HIV/AIDS patients plan public awareness campaign

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Two Benin HIV-positive patients, Denis d'Oliveira and Francois Dubal Kodo, plan a three-month campaign from October to raise public awareness on HIV/AIDS.
The campaign will target mainly young school dropouts, in the outskirts of Cotonou and the suburbs of Godomey and Abomey-Calavi, according to the Information Centre of the National AIDS Control Programme.
D'Oliveira, President of the "Hope and Life Association" said the project financed by a French NGO "Solidarité SIDA," seeks to effect changes in the youths' sexual behaviour.
Of the 4,957 AIDS cases recorded by December 2000 in Benin, he said 3,453 were young people of both sexes aged between 15 and 39 years.
More than 167,397 people are said to be infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in the country.
The National AIDS Control Programme estimates that by 2005, HIV-positive cases could reach 263,191, while 85,698 could die of AIDS in Benin.