Students and professionals from the Ministry of Justice as well as epidemiologists and other specialists from Santiago de Cuba province participating in the forum “Women, HIV/AIDS and Drugs”, stressed the importance of raising awareness among the people about the rights and duties of those who live with this virus.

During a keynote lecture, specialist Sadiuska Velez referred to the changes of behavior and life style, mainly among high-risk groups such as sexually active adolescents, women and men with more than one sexual partner and men who have sex with other men.

Once these vulnerable groups are identified, she emphasized, the basic health team has to assess the individual risk and to develop educational actions that are accompanied by techniques promoting appropriate sexual conducts to prevent future infections.

The expert added that having unprotected sex and the low perception of risks are serious threats for the couple because AIDS is transmitted for the actions people do and not for what people are.

Velez recalled that there are more than 33 million people infected with the virus currently living in the world while over 6,800 get infected every day and 5,700 die for this cause.

In Cuba, the epidemic is regarded as of low risk and slow growth with a higher impact in urban areas and among the male population with 81% of all cases confirmed – mainly men who have sex with other men.