“Do not discriminate against people with HIV/AIDS,” says Ambassador for the Kingdom of the Netherlands Maarten M. Van der Gaag.
This statement came last Friday as Ambassador Van der Gaag spoke to media personnel at the conference room of the Professional Secretarial and Consultancy Services. {{more}} The press conference came as part of a number of activities planned for the ambassador’s visit to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Other items on the Ambassador’s agenda included a visit to Governor General Sir Frederick Ballantyne where Ambassador Van der Gaag presented his credentials and a meeting with Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves.
While speaking about HIV/AIDS, Van der Gaag said that in his opinion, within the Caribbean the incidence of HIV/AIDS is relatively high. He says one of the ways of preventing the disease is for persons to become more educated about the deadly pandemic.
“I can only stress to all people in the Caribbean to read and learn about why this illness comes about because basically it is an avoidable illness; if you know how to set up your life in an organised way you can avoid it,” he said.
Van der Gaag said that HIV/AIDS is a very important subject that should be given emphasis.
“The Netherlands are seeing it as one of their primary targets in the area of foreign relations especially the relations we have with the African nations,” the Ambassador pointed out.
“I hope that people will learn that it is so wrong to victimise people with the disease because they go through hell,” he stressed.