Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma has launched a new plan to tackle the issue of HIV/AIDS to coincide with World AIDS Day.
The National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS 2011-2015 sets out the challenges posed by the disease, and what measures the Sierra Leone government will take in terms of economic and social development to tackle the issue.
President Koroma said the National Strategic Plan is closely aligned to the government's Agenda for Change, which includes a framework to confront the issue of poverty in the country.
According to the president, the Agenda for Change highlights the existing socio-economic factors that increase people's vulnerability and risk of getting HIV.
He said: "Government will continue to provide the direction, through the National AIDS Secretariat, to the work of all stakeholders in the field of HIV and AIDS to minimize overlaps and ensure that resources are effectively channelled towards the achievement of the goals of reducing the prevalence of HIV and migrating its impact among our people."
He added that the government will seek the help of other development partners to help it overcome the challenges it faces in the future, and how it will implement the plans. And he urged people to get behind the government's goal to try and meet the millennium development targets of 2015.
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