Thirty more residents in the parish of Portland acquired the HIV/AIDS virus last year, a health official has reported.

Winston Lowe, the Portland Health Department's contact investigator, said that of the 30 cases diagnosed in 2002, 18 were females including a seven-year-old, while the 12 infected males included a two-year-old child.

Lowe said that while the number of cases reported to date in the parish for 2002 indicated a decline from the 37 cases diagnosed in 2001, this figure could rise as there were still a number of outstanding results from tests conducted last year. These are expected to be submitted to the Portland Health Department.

Lowe added that the department would continue its public education programme to sensitise the people of the parish about the dangers of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

He noted also that the increasing number of pregnant women going in for voluntary tests for the disease was a major sign of the success of the programme.
He said the public education programme would be intensified this year in an effort to ensure that the fight against the spread of the disease involves as many communities as possible.

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