The National Guard Health Affairs – Western Region concluded the events of the World AIDS Day activity event. The activities included an educational exhibition for patients, visitors and health care workers with the participation of the Blood Bank, the Department of Health Promotion and the Pharmacy as well as the Saudi Charity Association for AIDS Patients, and the Patients Friends Association.
Furthermore, the exhibition organized educational contests for adults and children contests as well as AIDS virus testing. Participating in the awareness activities were students from the College of Medicine in King Saud bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Sciences through providing educational posters and conducting interviews with the outpatient clinics’ visitors to learn about their knowledge and attitude regarding those infected with the AIDS.
World AIDS Day is an annual event in December and serves as an opportunity to spread awareness within the community and health workers regarding HIV prevention and control measures.
According to statistics from the World Health Organization, there are approximately 35.3 million people are living with HIV. In the late 2012, 9.7 million of those have access to antiretroviral therapy in low- and middle-income countries while the adolescents living with HIV amounted to 2.1 million in 2012.