nearly 4 million euros in pledges received

An amount similar to that collected in 2022. The Sidaction association received just over 3.9 million euros in pledges for the fight against AIDS, during its traditional annual fundraising weekend between Fridays March 24 and Sunday March 26.

This stability “underlines commitment and trust” donors, at a time when “Inflation weighs on the economic situation of the French who have to make a lot of sacrifices”reacted in a press release the general manager of Sidaction, Florence Thune.

The association had already collected 4 million euros last year, a little less than the record of 4.5 million reached in 2019 and almost repeated in 2021. The collection, launched on Friday with the support of 35 media partners, remains open until April 6 by telephone by calling 110 free of charge.

Infections “still too many”

These funds “will be donated to research and care programs and to associative programs for the care and assistance of people living with HIV, in France and abroad”specifies Sidaction.

Forty years after the discovery of the virus responsible for AIDS, “new infections are still too many and millions of people do not have access to treatment”, emphasizes Florence Thune. In France, the health authorities estimate that“about 190,000 people” are living with HIV, including 25,000 who “are unaware of their HIV status or are not treated despite an established diagnosis”.

According to the latest UNAIDS report, 38.4 million people worldwide are living with HIV, of which 1.5 million were tested in 2021. In the course of the same year, 650,000 people died of related diseases to AIDS.