Nasseem Ackbarally
PORT LOUIS, Feb 20 2007 (IPS) – In contrast to the rest of southern Africa, intravenous (IV) drug users have become the group most vulnerable to the transmission of the HI virus in Mauritius. This has led the Mauritian government to introduce a syringe and needle exchange programme in a bid to stem HIV infection among Mauritian drug users.
Sexual transmission among heterosexuals is the most common way of HIV infection in southern Africa, the region which has become the centre of the international HIV/AIDS pandemic in recent years.
Mauritius is unusual in the region as the HIV prevalence rate among its population of 1.2 million people is less than 0.5 percent. Since 1987, 162 Mauritians have died from AIDS-related illnesses. Currently, some 2,345 Mau…