To mark World Aids Day in Côte d'Ivoire on 1 December 2015 the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), organised a day of sensitisation and voluntary testing in collaboration with local NGO Alliance Côte d'Ivoire at its headquarters in Abidjan.



Speaking on the occasion, UNOCI's HIV/AIDS trainer, Dr. Frank Oliver Gomis recalled that the slogan for this year World Aids Day in Côte d'Ivoire is ''I'm committed to ending HIV/AIDS infection in children ».



« Treatments are available and they are free in public health centres. People can be tested discretely, he added..



The director of Alliance Côte d'Ivoire, Dr. Madiara Coulibaly, for her part, said that some three to four persons for every 100 in Côte d'Ivoire are affected by the HIV/AIDS virus, adding that women were the most affected. « Today a pregnant woman who is HIV positive can give birth to a child who is not infected, » she said.



Testing is the best means of protection against HIV/AIDS, according to participants Barthélémy Kobé and Kadiatou Cissé. « I urge my sisters to get tested », said Mrs Cissé.



According to statistics published in 2014, 460,000 people live with HIV/AIDS in Côte d'Ivoire. The rate of infection in the country is 3.5% among adults aged between 15 and 49.