Thursday 21 June 2012

Mexico City to expand free HIV treatment

Mexicans without social security or health insurance may have free access to HIV treatment in Mexico City according to a new city decree, El Universal reported on 21 June. The move is part of the city's new policies on preventing the spread of HIV - the virus that causes AIDS - and other sexually transmitted diseases; these would include providing assistance to a range of infected patients in vulnerable situations. The city had 38,400 people known to carry HIV in 2010, the daily reported, citing figures from ClĂ­nica Especializada Condesa, or 17 per cent of all those diagnosed with HIV in Mexico that year. The clinic estimated that yearly 2,100 people in Mexico City were infected with HIV.