Dead Mourned, Compassion Urged on World AIDS Day
Nelson Mandela and Princess Diana marked World AIDS Day on Thursday by pleading for compassion and more research money to combat the scourge that has touched every corner of the globe.
From Malawi to Romania, children who have fallen to the disease were mourned. From Iran to China, governments issued grim warnings about AIDS ravaging their peoples.
Princess Diana, one of the most prominent campaigners on behalf of people with AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, marked the day by opening a new research and treatment center in London that will be the largest in Europe, serving 60,000 people a year.
In Johannesburg, South African President Mandela also sought to break down the barriers. “We need to treat relatives, friends and other compatriots who are infected with compassion,” he said in a World AIDS Day message.
In Malawi, which in 1991 had the highest AIDS rate in the world, more than 4,000 people die every month.
Leading campaigner Dr. George Liamba said it is vital to prevent infection in the younger generation.
In Romania, more than 90% of cases are children.
Doctors believe that the source in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta was blood sold by sailors that was sent to hospitals and orphanages caring for abandoned children.
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