FABIANI PRAISES LANARKSHIRE WEST GIRL GUIDES IN WORLD AIDS DAY DEBATE

Linda Fabiani MSP has spoken to the Scottish Parliament about events in Lanarkshire to mark World AIDS Day today, 1 December. In particular, she highlighted the intention of West Lanarkshire Girl Guides to take their AIDS awareness work to Ghana.

Speaking in a Scottish Parliament debate about the Sing campaign, launched by singer Annie Lennox, Ms Fabiani said of the West Lanarkshire Girl Guides:

“Those young women have a link with Ghana and some of them hope to go out there next year. One thing that they want to talk about when they go is AIDS awareness. Young people relating to other young people across the globe can help to make a big difference.”

SNP MSP for Central Scotland Ms Fabiani also warned that Scots should not assume that AIDS is now mainly an African problem, saying:

“We should never bury our heads in the sand…the [Scottish] HIV infection and AIDS quarterly report up to March this year said that, cumulatively, there were almost 6,000 HIV reports and 1,500 AIDS cases. It also said that the total number of deaths was 1,594.”

Ms Fabiani praised the Scottish Government for taking action to halt the spread of HIV infection in Scotland. The government’s HIV Action Plan was published last week.

Details of the Scottish Government’s HIV Action plan can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2009/11/25113915