The integrated national campaign on HIV/AIDS prevention and service delivery - The Difference that saves your life.
Int Conf AIDS 2004 Jul 11-16; 15:(abstract no. E10414)
Catana CM, Kalambayi FD, Sarbu I, Bunea L Romanian Angel Appeal, Bucharest, Romania
Issues : The only way to reduce both the new HIV+ infections and the discrimination against the HIV infected ones is to educate general public. This is very difficult in a ex-comunist country where freedom of speech was limited for 40 years and the population was indoctrinated. AIDS is associated by people with homosexuality and prostitution, and perceived as a disease that affects only some social categories. Topics such as sexuality and drug use are still taboo in a discussion between parents and children, teachers and students. When changing people`s mentality, is better to start with the young generation, who naturally accepts changes. Being correctly informed, they might take the best decisions. Description : The Mobile Unite is an initiative started in 2000 by Romanian Angel Appeal aiming to increase access to stomatological and dermatological services for HIV+ children and youth. In 2003, we attached the national HIV prevention campaign The Difference that Saves Your Life . The campaign reached 70,000 young people, the most vulnerable category to HIV/STIs risks. We used two communication channels: peer education workshops in high school (using poster, a movie and brochures) and local media campaigns. The media had a double role: to disseminated the campaign messages and also to continue to inform people about this topic. We published the first Romanian HIV/AIDS Guide for Journalists. Lesson learned : A successful prevention campaign has to be a long time project, with the message repeted constantly and simultaneously by NGOs, media, schools and family. Recommendations : Mass media can be a strong ally for HIV/AIDS campaigns. But for this the journalists need to be trained so that they will offer true information and do not perpetuate prejudices. In this way they will create a tolerant environment based on correct information, encouraging the involvement of the whole society in the fight against AIDS.<IMG SRC="images/prog/E10414_IMG1.jpg" border=0>
Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Seropositivity, HIV Infections, Mass Media, Sexual Behavior, Population, Federal Government, Infection, Sexuality, Child, prevention & control, education, organization & administration
