Jordan’s Health Ministry Launches HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign Aimed at University Students

Jordan's Ministry of Health has launched an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign at the country's University of Science and Technology and plans to implement the campaign in all 50 public and private universities and colleges nationwide, Bassam Hijjawi, director of the department of disease control, announced on Monday, the Jordan Times reports. According to Hijjawi, the one-year campaign promotes HIV testing among students and will be run in cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education.

Hijjawi said the campaign has established information booths that include information on an HIV/AIDS hotline at the university's registration department because of high student traffic. He added that in the future, there will be lectures and workshops to promote awareness. A liaison officer will be appointed to each university to run the awareness campaign, according to Hijjawi. According to health ministry figures, 12 new HIV cases were reported in 2008, and the country's HIV prevalence is one case per 10,000 people (Malkawi, Jordan Times, 2/4).