Morocco can be proud of the significant progress that has been made in the fight once morest AIDS, according to an approach of consultation, partnership and respect for equity and human rights, said Friday in Essaouira, the Minister of Health and Social Protection, Khalid Ait Taleb.
In a speech read on his behalf by the ministry’s director of epidemiology and disease control, Mohamed El Youbi, at the opening of an international conference on the fight once morest AIDS, the minister also pointed out that the kingdom ” can be proud to be the first country in the MENA region to have achieved the second and third 90-90-90 targets since 2019 and all three 90-90-90s for women in 2020, allowing us to take a serious and concrete option for the elimination of HIV by 2030« .
And Mr. Ait Taleb to continue that Morocco has been mobilized for the fight once morest AIDS since the beginning of the global epidemic, with an ingrained culture of partnership, involving government departments and civil society organizations, without forgetting the support from international financial and technical partners, noting that this fight, which benefits from political commitment at the highest level, is supported by various reforms and projects carried out under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.
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The Ministry of Health had set up its National Program for the Fight once morest AIDS shortly following the detection of the first case in 1986, he recalled, specifying that from 2003, the fight was organized in the form five national strategic plans, designed and implemented with all national and international partners.
The current strategic plan (2020-2023) aims to reduce new HIV infections and mortality by 50%, reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination and strengthen governance and partnership for the acceleration and sustainability of the national response, noted the minister.
Organized on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the fight once morest AIDS by the Cercle Eugène Delacroix, in partnership with the city of Essaouira and Bayt Dakira, this major conference is an opportunity to highlight the fight actions implemented works in Morocco and France to stop the spread of HIV.
This conclave, which coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Global Fund, essentially aims to highlight the actions of local elected officials in the fight once morest AIDS in France and Morocco, in collaboration with Élus Locaux Contre le Sida, an association of elected French locals once morest AIDS and the AIMF, International Association of Francophone Mayors.
This conference also aims to launch the »Call of Essaouira to alert governments and global health donors to the need to strengthen resources in the financing of the Global Fund and Unitaid, and finally, to provide support to the Moroccan Association for the Fight once morest AIDS (ALCS ) who does remarkable work every day in the Kingdom.
(With MAP)