Joint Message by Mehran Modiri, Siamak Ansaari, Alireza Assar and Mahtab Keramati on World AIDS Day
“Access to Education, Prevention, Care and Treatment of HIV is a right for every individual”
Tehran 1 December 2010-This year and on the occasion of World AIDS Day we would like to ask you, youth and adolescents of Iran, to unite with each other in one voice and one heart and share correct information, avoid risky behavior and act responsibly to prevent the spread of HIV especially among your peers.
Data show that about half of the new cases indentified with HIV in the world are between 15-24 years. This means you adolescents and youth are exposed to danger more than any other group.
One should do something. One should promote care for health and responsible behavior. One should stop the spread of AIDS.
And you need to tell everyone that HIV is transmitted from one person to another through use of infected injection tools and unprotected sex. It can also be transmitted through an HIV positive mother to the fetus or infant during pregnancy and/or breastfeeding. Every one needs to know that using Alcohol and hallucinating drugs damages one’s consciousness level and leads him to engage in risky behavior and potentially be infected with HIV.
World AIDS Week is an opportunity for us to see what HIV/AID is and What we know about it. It’s an opportunity to think ”What step, though simple, I can take to share correct information for the prevention of HIV/AIDS and remove discriminating behaviors against it?”
More than any other person, you adolescents and youth, can stop the spread of HIV among peers through a healthy social behavior and proper share of information.
Let’s turn into a reality the miracle of ”Stopping HIV/AIDS.”