Paulina Quintao – National Commission on Combating HIV/SIDA Timor-Leste (CNCS-TL) General Secretary Daniel Marcal has said education is key to combatting the rise of the rates of HIV/AIDS which is increasing each year.

Marcal said when communities had clear information, they could protect themselves from this disease. "This illness cannot be cured and all people are at risk of it, when there is no adequate information," he said at Hali Laran, Dili.

The prevention campaign will continue to hold events in public places easily accessible by the community such as Cristo Rei, Largo Park and markets as well as border areas.

Youth were most at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, Marcal said. Marcal said from 2003 to 2013, the Ministry of Health, through the Voluntary Counselling Confidential Testing program (VCCT), 408 people tested positive for HIV/AIDS.

Some of these patients had died, some were undergoing treatment and others remained in the community untreated, he said.

President of Commission F (health, education, gender equality and veterans'affairs), Member of Parliament Virgilio da Costa Hornai agreed the only way to combat HIV/AIDS was to increase the knowledge of the disease in the community.

The PD MP called on the commission to continue raising awareness for the youth in schools as it was young people who were most at risk. He also promised to coordinate with the Ministry of Education to include the prevention of HIV/AIDS on the school curriculum.

Vera Cruz sub-district administrator Mateus Gomes said they were ready to cooperate with CNCS-TL in order to share information with the communities.

In this opportunity the district leader called on the community not to discriminate against those affected by HIV/AIDS as they need moral support to fight the illness.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/news/12408-education-key-to-hiv-aids-prevention