The number of Aids cases in Portugal dropped significantly in 2013, but the prevalence of the disease is still high in European terms, Health Minister Paulo Macedo told a conference in Lisbon over the weekend.
During the conference, titled ‘HIV-2: The Forgotten Virus’, Macedo announced there were 200 less cases of the disease in 2013 compared to 2012. It is “good news”, he said, but Aids’ “prevalence is still high in European terms and deserves the government’s attention”.
Investigators are now calling for more ‘conditions’ to study the virus which has already infected as many as 45,000 up and down the country.
Maria do Carmo Fonseca, director of the institute of molecular medicine, said researchers in Portugal do not simply want to “follow the news that global investigators introduce into the world of healthcare.”
With this in mind, she welcomed the government’s new plan for centres of excellence (see our cover story).
