Bulgaria Receives EUR 18 M to Fight AIDS

Bulgaria will receive almost EUR 18 M to fight AIDS over the next three years through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The aim is to curb the spread of the disease and improve the quality of life of people with HIV. With money from the Global Fund, 10 coordination offices on AIDS issues have been established across Bulgaria, Bulgarian National Radio reported Thursday.

19 cabinets for anonymous and free testing and counseling, 8 health and social centres within the Roma community and 12 mobile medical offices have also been launched with money from the Fund.

Officials said 111 new cases of HIV positive Bulgarians have been added to the deadly statistics since the beginning 2008. The newly registered cases take the total up to 803.

According to some experts, however, the real number of HIV positive Bulgarians is believed to exceed 5 000.

According to the Global Fund's official website, as of June 2007, 1,9 million lives had been saved thanks to efforts they supported in 136 countries. More than 20% of all finances worldwide for combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in 2008 were generated by the fund.

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