72% of Moroccans are unaware that they are carriers of AIDS and 6,500 are under antiretroviral (ARV) treatment after having reached 4,047 in 2011, an increase of 60%. These results, which remain, however, minimal, were announced, on Monday in Rabat, during the launch of the national strategy on human rights and HIV/AIDS. As its name suggests, this programme which is part of the national strategic plan for the fight against AIDS, already put in place in 2012 to run until 2016, is marked by the addition of the legal and human dimension that the CNDH asserts by virtue of a partnership signed the same day with the Ministry of Health and the UNAIDS programme in Morocco. For the president of the Council, Driss El Yazami, who welcomed this partnership, "Morocco is considered the only country in the MENA region to develop such a strategy with a rights-based approach". The collaboration between the CNDH and the supervisory ministry in this matter dates back to 2011, the year in which the said Council was created in its new configuration. The Minister of Health, Lhoussaine Louardi, could only welcome, in his turn, this initiative by indicating: "The strategy specific to human rights linked to HIV/AIDS has come to respond to the pressing need to have an intersectoral and coherent framework for work, aimed at facilitating the fight against an epidemic whose social, legal and economic conditions prevail and play a determining role in its dissemination". The human rights dimension was also put forward by the ministerial delegate for Human Rights, who emphasised the need to provide accurate statistical data concerning people carrying the HIV/AIDS syndrome. Mahjoub El Hiba, who, like Mr El Yazami, pleaded in favour of legal protection for these people, or even drug addicts, also called for providing training for media representatives to contribute to the promotion of "a culture of human dignity and the right of the person to health whatever their state". Hence the theme: "Living with dignity without stigmatisation or discrimination" chosen for this launch day. It is still necessary that work be done on mentalities in Moroccan society! The human rights approach is viewed favourably by the UNAIDS programme in Morocco. "This partnership comes at the right time since a year and a half separates us from the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals which provide, among other things, for the response to AIDS", declared Kamal El Alami, director of the said programme. He also recalled the latest progress made by Morocco regarding this response as it was detailed in the latest report prepared by the Ministry of Health in March 2014. This being said, the national strategic plan for the fight against AIDS 2012-2016 plans to reduce the number of people with AIDS to 50 and 60% of deaths caused by this syndrome. It also plans to carry out 3 million screenings, cover 4,000 drug users, reach 80% of pregnant women with AIDS and take care of 12,000 people among others. Within the framework of this strategy, Morocco has simultaneously ensured that it adopts the UNAIDS vision "Zero new infections, Zero deaths and discrimination linked to AIDS". The objective of this national plan combined with human rights being, among other things, to strengthen the role of NGOs in promoting and defending human rights in connection with HIV/AIDS. Also, the activities carried out within the framework of this plan and their implementation integrate the approach based on human rights and the gender approach. Louardi wants to reach 1 million HIV tests in 2016. Morocco has made significant progress in the fight against HIV. These efforts have been perceptible through the growing number of tests carried out. In 2012, 222,620 tests were carried out and 583,440 in 2013 against only 60,000 tests in 2011. Screening has been put in place in 385 basic health care establishments (ESSB), 52 Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Diagnostic Centres (CDTMR) out of 55 in total, 34 maternity homes and 10 hospital maternity wards. Beyond improving the screening offer, the Ministry of Health is seeking to establish a dynamic of social and community mobilisation for the promotion of knowledge of serological status. The defined vision is to reach 1 million tests in 2016, while targeting the most exposed or vulnerable populations. It must be remembered that the supervisory ministry has developed a National Plan for the elimination of mother-to-child HIV transmission 2012-2016. This provides for the extension of HIV counselling and testing in prenatal consultations and the creation of functional centres for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (pTME) (Health centres, hospital, maternity wards, paediatric services and NGOs). Details on Morocco's new anti-HIV strategy: The fight against stigmatisation and discrimination towards people living with HIV and the most exposed populations is among the fundamental axes of the global response to AIDS. For the Minister of Health, Lhoussaine Louardi, the non-respect of human rights contributes to spreading the disease and exacerbating its incidence, at the same time as HIV/AIDS handicaps the progress made in the implementation of human rights. "This link appears clearly when one considers the disproportionate incidence of the disease on certain groups, in particular women, children and key populations more exposed to the risks of infection", indicated the minister. Hence the need for a strategy specific to human rights linked to HIV/AIDS to facilitate the fight against HIV. The National Strategic Plan for the fight against AIDS 2012-2016, which has adopted the vision "Zero new infections, zero deaths and discrimination linked to AIDS", aims to concretise universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support services regarding HIV. Let us recall that this vision has three precise objectives: to eliminate stigmatisation and discrimination, to eliminate restrictions on the movement of people living with HIV and inequalities between the sexes.