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Miss Universe talks of the AIDS factor

PHOTO: AP

FOR A CAUSE: A former commercial sex worker welcome Miss Universe 2006 Zuleyka Rivera (left), who is on a tour to spread AIDS awareness, in Mumbai.

Mumbai : Miss Universe 2006 Zuleyka Rivera, who is on a two-week AIDS awareness tour of India, said there is no point in attaching a social stigma to AIDS and that it should be treated like any other disease.

``It is not the end of the world. It is like other disease that you can have. You just have to take care of yourself, to take treatment, to take medications to live long. In this generation you can do it, inclusive of having children... . All you have to do is to take care of yourself,'' she said while on a visit to `Antarang,' a clinic that treats sexually transmitted diseases.

Health officials said her gesture would go a long way in attracting public attention to fight the killer disease.

"People have elected her Miss Universe, and when she says something on AIDS, people will listen to her and accept it,'' Mangal Bhanushali, a health official at the clinic, said.

Nineteen-year old Rivera of Puerto Rico, crowned Miss Universe 2006 in July, is on her first visit to India. She will visit several red-light areas and work towards creating awareness about AIDS particularly by using fashion as a medium, including the use of slogans such as "Get tested, its in fashion."

Apart from Mumbai, she will also visit New Delhi, Kochi, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

India has the world's highest national HIV/AIDS caseload with 5.7 million infected people. — ANI

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Miss Universe talks of the AIDS factor

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