MEXICO CITY, Dec. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Health authorities in Mexico agreed to intensify the campaign against HIV/AIDS on Wednesday, the World AIDS Day, the Health Ministry said.

    The ministry said it had agreed with several civil organizations to promote the use of condoms among high-risk sectors in order to prevent the contagion of the epidemic and other sexually transmitted diseases.

    To deal with HIV/AIDS, the ministry said, preventive and therapeutical measures are needed simultaneously.

    Recent official figures showed that 90,043 Mexicans are HIV-positive, but with those not registered taken into consideration, it is believed that the real number could be as high as 160,000.

    According to the State-run National Council for the Prevention and Control of AIDS, over 12,000 people died of the disease from 1982 to October 2004.

    The spread of the epidemic is to some extent due to the lack ofeducation on sex, said Juan Alvarez-Gayou, director of the MexicanSexology Institute.

    It is estimated that in Mexico there are 107,000 sexual workers,of which 400 are HIV-positive.

    Meanwhile, the disease also causes a serious human rights problem, said the National Human Rights Commission.

    It said that since its creation it has received 634 cases of HIV-positive who received poor medical assistance, or none at all,as well as offensive or discriminating treatment, or arbitrary isolation. Enditem