LOCAL MEP SPEAKS OUT ON AIDS

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 22nd May 2007

Local MEP Liz Lynne for the West Midlands today attended and took part in a meeting in the European Parliament as part of Worldwide Aids Awareness Week 2007.

Commenting today from the event in Strasbourg Liz said:

"The Global AIDS Week of Action is a great opportunity for activists to demand a stronger response and more resources for the fight against HIV&AIDS.

"My hope is that we can urge the leaders of the world's richest countries to live up to their promise to make prevention, treatment, and care accessible to all people by 2010, ahead of their meeting on the 6th June"

Despite hard-hitting television adverts in the UK in the 1980's, education and awareness raising in the UK has since dropped;

"The fact is that young people in the UK are increasingly complacent about STD's and the risks they are exposing themselves to; we need more awareness raising and better prevention strategies"

Liz has also called on the European Commission and individual Member States to tackle the issue of needlestick injuries at work which can lead to health workers contracting HIV or Hepatitis C:

"It is estimated that 1 million needle stick injuries occur in Europe each year, many of which are avoidable and cause untold misery for our front line health workers. They must be better protected."

ENDS

Notes to editors

AIDS has orphaned 15 million children. In 2006 alone, it killed an estimated 380,000 children under the age of 15.

Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne has been campaigning for better protection for health workers from needlestick injuries, known more commonly as sharps injuries. The significant occupational risks faced by healthcare workers from contaminated needles was brought to the attention of the European Commission more than two years ago and since then Liz Lynne has met with Commissioner Spidla, who is the Commissioner responsible for Health and Safety at work and written to both Commissioner Spidla and more recently President Barroso asking for an amendment to the Biological Agents directive 2000/54/EC to include legislative provisions for Healthcare workers.