World AIDS day

A University of Sheffield society that works with communities in East Africa tackling poverty and HIV/AIDS is getting reading for World AIDS Day.

On Monday, December 1, the University’s International Development Society, SidSoc, aims to raise consciousness of the disease and combat prejudice.

Approximately 80,000 people are infected in the UK, and about a third of these do not know that they are HIV positive. Emmanuelle Chazarin Möy, of SidSoc, said: "We all think we care about AIDS, world poverty, hunger, droughts; but do we really? One of the most important things you can do is to find out the facts about HIV."

SidSoc works in co-operation with communities in East Africa to tackle issues of poverty and HIV/AIDS as well as to raise awareness on a local level.

On December 1, they will be outside the Union of Students handing out free condoms with leaflets highlighting the importance of condoms in AIDS prevention. The society will be asking for donations which will go to different projects in East Africa.

Mark Duell