Ouled Taima, June 27, 2006After visiting Taroudant we took a quick stop in Ouled Taima where we met with a group of doctors who created an NGO in association with the minister of Health of Ouled Taima, entitled ALIS (L’Association de Lutte Contre les IST/SIDA), which is located at the local health center. The association aimed at educating professional sex workers about AIDS and methods of prevention and protection. We learned that the town of Ouled Taima is mainly populated by passing truck drivers, and sex workers (people of high-risk behavior group) and a minor local population. Thus the program is facing great difficulties in educating the passing truck drivers, who make use of the sex workers, as they don’t stay in the area long enough. However we were told that it was in fact the local population who were the major clients of the sex workers. Not enough information on the profile of the clients is not known. Since prostitution is big in the region, the risk of HIV and AIDS is high, and can be transmitted easily and in secret from person to person. There is a center for diagnosis of HIV/AIDS located at the health center, set up by ALIS, which is open all the time. It is without a doubt that ALIS, having only been open one year, and consisting of only eleven members, has achieved great things. However the association still has many problems. Volunteers are still needed, as well as many of the basic necessities, such as money and supplies. ALIS also faces administrative obstacles. Nevertheless, the association has done great work with the sex workers of the region and will continue to persistently tackle the problem of HIV and AIDS. A program to fight mother to child transmission is being developed by UNICEF and ALIS. It is due to state in the fall of this year.
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