To mark World AIDS Day, which falls on December 1, each year, the Ministry of Health organised an AIDS prevention and early detection awareness day in Tunis on Saturday. Dr. Tarek Bennacer, regional director of health, said the campaign had two main strands: raising awareness to combat the transmission of the AIDS epidemic and screening for the disease through medical examinations and real-time biological analyses to determine the extent of the infection. He pointed out that if a person is found to be infected with AIDS, he or she is immediately taken care of and referred to specialised medical services to receive the necessary treatment, stressing that the tests are confidential and anonymous. He added that it was possible to live with AIDS thanks to the development of therapeutic approaches to the disease, particularly in cases where the virus was detected at an early stage. He pointed out that the prevalence of AIDS in Tunisia does not exceed one per cent, thanks to the enormous efforts made by the Mi nistry of Health and its various structures at national and regional level to combat the disease. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse