NGO makes bleak AIDS prediction

Failure by Senegal's government to utilise funding effectively could undermine its AIDS programmes, a local NGO, Enda Tiers-Monde, has warned. According to its 2003 sentinel survey, the country has one of Africa's lowest HIV/AIDS rates and the estimated prevalence rate of 1.5 is not expected to rise above three percent in 2006. However, Enda Tiers-Monde has criticised the national AIDS campaign for its lack of programmes targeting orphans and sex workers, as well as the absence of testing centres outside the capital, Dakar. Daouda Diouf, speaking for a group of concerned NGOs, told the UN news service PlusNews: "Senegal isn't safe from an explosion of the epidemic ... We need to quickly set up programmes targeted at orphans, prostitutes and vulnerable groups."