Red Cross launches AIDS project

Togo's Red Cross association launched on Wednesday a two-year project against the spread of HIV/AIDS, as part of a continental initiative by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The education and sensitisation campaign targets those aged above 15, who are the country's most vulnerable. The Red Cross also aims to provide income-generating projects to those living with the disease, and team up with religious, community and youth leaders to encourage the adoption of safe sex behavior, including use of condoms. The project follows previous efforts made by the national Red Cross to combat the disease. After a 1993 project to promote condom use, the association conducted in 1997-1998 an information campaign for those working in the country's public transport sector. Togo's initiative falls under the African Red Cross and Red Crescent Health Initiative (ARCHI 2010), a project ICRC launched on Wednesday as part of its 8 May anniversary worldwide celebrations. ICRC aims, through ARCHI 2010, to reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the continent, increase access to safe-drinking water, fight vaccine-preventable diseases, as well combat other conditions that currently devastate the continent by the year 2010.