Sidaction in … Marrakesh!

[7 January 2009 - 11h06]

In Morocco, the end of 2008 saw massive mobilisation against HIV/AIDS, reaching its climax on the 19th of December with a live 5-hour television broadcast on various national channels.

Under the patronage of His Majesty Mohammed VI, the event was organised by the Moroccan Association against AIDS (the ALCS) in partnership with the French association Sidaction.

According to Ahmed Moulay Douraidi, national sectional coordinator of the ALCS, there were a number of aims. “Firstly, to raise funds to finance our action in the field”. And this was successful, as over 598,000 euros were in fact collected. Another aim was to get certain messages across to the public – to raise their awareness of the risks associated with HIV/AIDS and of the vectors of contamination. “We have a major task ahead of us in terms of therapeutic education”, he continued.

And it’s a matter of urgency as the epidemic is on the increase in Morocco. According to official figures from UNAIDS and the Moroccan Ministry of Health, there are now 2,800 people suffering from this condition. And “22,300 (ie 95% of them heterosexual) living with the AIDS virus, whereas there were only 14,500 in 2003”, Moulay Douraidi points out. More worrying still, “the south of the country is seeing a strong upsurge in the illness, now accounting for 29% of the total number of recorded cases. This can be largely explained by the poverty and movement of the local population”. Prevention is hard to implement in this remote area of Morocco.

The increase in the number of infected women is also worrying. It has risen from 8% in 1988 to 43% of total reported cases today… And the use of injected hard drugs, which is spreading dangerously among young people, is also playing a part in the rise of the epidemic.

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