BRASILIA, Jan. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Representatives of 19 Latin American nations on Thursday held a meeting here to discuss common strategies on access to medicines needed to fight AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, local media reported.

    Pedro Chequer, head of Brazil's anti-AIDS (Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome) program, said he believed that Latin American nations would be able to reach a consensus on the topic this year.

    He also expressed his support for countries that promised to reject propositions without scientific grounds, such as the condemnation of using condoms for religious, philosophical or traditional reasons.

    According to statistics released by the World Health Organization, at least 300,000 people are receiving anti-retroviral treatment in Latin America and the Caribbean region, as 170,000 of them -- more than half of the number -- are in Brazil.

    Brazilian government guarantees free and universal access to AIDS drugs, but it met serious problems as treatment costs have increased rapidly since 2003. Enditem