Organisation of Islamic Conference Members Should Focus on Preventing HIV/AIDS Among Children, Report Says
The Organisation of the Islamic Conference should give "high priority" to preventing the spread of HIV among children, according to a report released by UNICEF on Wednesday, the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies reports. The report, titled "Children's Well-being in the OIC: Follow-up to the U.N. Special Session on Children," says that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is increasing rapidly in OIC countries and that officials must improve prevention efforts before the disease "ravages their progress and prosperity," according to Kul Gautam, deputy executive director of UNICEF. "The HIV/AIDS occurring most dramatically in sub-Saharan Africa, including in many OIC countries, is reversing hard-earned progress in child survival and human development," Gautam said, adding, "Therefore it needs to be confronted with sensitivity but openness and determination." The report also examines other challenges that Islamic countries face in the areas of child survival, development, education and protection (Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies, 10/15).
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