[National strategy and AIDS prevention health promotion and education]

Ten years after AIDS was first recognized, education as the most effective weapon to prevent infection remains valid, and not only as a transitory strategy; it will be valid evan if and when effective drugs and vaccines are developed. Concerned by the rapid spread of AIDS, affecting people in all regions of the world, WHO has developed a Global strategy for the prevention and control of AIDS, and also, guidelines for the development of a national AIDS prevention and control programme to assist countries in the formulation of their medium-term programms. The present paper sets out some of the key aspects of AIDS prevention and control programmes.