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Action urged on AIDS prevention

    JOHANNESBURG

    Angola must act now to prevent a rise in HIV/AIDS prevalence rates, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned on Saturday.

    Dr Lee Jong-Wook, director-general of WHO, said the free movement of people from neighbouring countries at the end of Angola's 27-year-long civil war had created ideal conditions for spreading the virus.

    The director-general, who is currently in southern Africa for a meeting of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, said in a statement: "We are seeing, depending on the outcome, the beginning of a much bigger epidemic - or it can be a success story like Uganda. But to make it a success, we really have to take action right now."

    He called for strengthened HIV/AIDS education programmes and access to antiretrovirals for HIV-positive expectant mothers.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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