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Open letter to the public:
The Frente Común Contra el SIDA (Common Front Against
AIDS),
a non-governmental organization with over thirteen years
work in AIDS prevention in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico,
considers the selection of Oaxaca to be host for this
year’s National AIDS Convention in Mexico, is
unfortunate.
Since its founding, our organization has been vigilant
of our state government’s efforts to attend AIDS
patients. Thanks, in part, to this oversight, the state
AIDS clinic, COESIDA, is considered one of the best in
the country. However, in the last several years, the
response of COESIDA has been to reject any further
criticism.
Since 2001, we have insisted in the transparency in the
supply of AIDS medicines to patients with HIV/AIDS. To
date, the directors of this clinic have declined to
provide this information.
Nor has there been transparency in its budget; the
information provided in the official financial
statements of the state has not corresponded to facts
given out by COESIDA to the media.
For example, we receive statistics from the Secretary of
Health about the number of cases reported in the state
of Oaxaca and, from COESIDA, the number of patients
being attended in their clinic. One can deduce that a
large number of reported cases are not receiving the
medical attention the deserve.
The official policy of opacity which invades all areas
of the government of Oaxaca, which manifests itself in
the Secretary of Health, the conditions imposed by the
government to act as host to the upcoming convention,
and the so-called “transparency commission” of COESIDA,
all bring into question the decision by Dr. Jorge
Saavedra of CENSIDA, Mexico, to locate this prestigious
convention in Oaxaca.
We in the Frente Comùn Contra el SIDA believe this is
not the hour to reward the forces of cover-up and
questionable ethics which predominate the health sector
of this state with the prize of the IX National AIDS
Convention in Mexico.
Frente
Común Contra el Sida, Oaxaca, A.C
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