“Recent informal surveys conducted by health authorities have indicated that there are nearly 45,000 female prostitutes within Sri Lanka who provide services to 300,000 males daily,” said Dr. H.A.C.W. Hathurusinghe, specialist doctor of the AIDS control unit of the Kurunegala General Hospital. He gave this statement at a meeting held at the Kurunegala YMBA Hall recently to educate the Kurunegala District school community on the gravity of and preventive measures for incurable diseases like AIDS.
He also said that about 2,600 HIV-positive patients have been identified in the island by now. The North Western Province was earlier reported to contain the highest number of HIV-positive patients, but that statistic is now vanishing gradually due to educational programmes conducted by the Health Ministry continuously to educate the public on the disease over the past few years. The target of the government is to wipe out AIDS from Sri Lanka by the year 2025, and measures are now being successfully implemented countrywide to achieve that target.
About 8,500 health personnel are currently deployed countrywide to educate young people, as those between 15-24 years of age are the most AIDS-affected group within the country, Dr. Hathurusinghe added. Mr. Lakshman Wedaruwa, NWP-Health Minister, Mr. Gamini Ilangaratne, Kurunegala District Secretary, and provincial journalists of the Kurunegala District, school principals, teachers and senior students of school of the Kurunegala District participated in the event.
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