Newsletter 82 - HIV-AIDS Fighters

--World AIDS day in...

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Indonesia

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Israel

World AIDS Day 2010 Dear IPSFers,

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Croatia

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Serbia

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Egypt

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Portugal

If you and your local executive committee were not able to put together a campaign on the first of December, please remember that HIV and AIDS are not only an issue on this day, but throughout the whole year. It is very important to support the campaign during the whole year.

Malta

If you have material of activity reports that you would like to contribute to the database, please e-mail me at hivaids@ipsf.org.

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First of all, I want to thank every one of you who worked with me to make World AIDS Day 2010 a global success. I hope every one of you is satisfied with how your event went. A special thanks goes to all of you who have already shared their campaigns and ideas with us via activity reports. It was a great pleasure for me to read over all your reports and to get new ideas from your campaigns. This is why we want to highlight some of your activity reports in this post-campaign newsletter.

Thank you for your great collaboration!

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Special Mentions

Yours in IPSF lz 011 Johanna Wa inator 2010-2 rd o o c S ID dA IPSF HIV an

World AIDS Day in Indonesia "Break the chain and express yourself"

Organizing association: BEM KMFA UGM Activity Chairperson: Suven

The Indonesian organization of pharmacy students BEM KMFA UGM organized a two-day event on the 30th of November and the 1st of December 2010. During those two days they had several different activities going on to raise awareness among students and to show their solidarity.

Those activities included building a human ribbon - this years’ global project.

Another activity that was done in Indonesia was spreading, filling and displaying the Lembar Xpresi. Lembar Xpresi is a sheet which participants filled with their handprints, aspirations, and words of support as a form of their care for AIDS sufferers. The members of IPSF distributed the Lembar Xpresi to the participants, and then those filled papers were hung in strategic locations at pharmacy UGM so other people there could read their inspiration.

In addition to those activities, the red ribbons that are the worldwide symbol for AIDS were distributed as a symbol of support and care for AIDS prevention. These red ribbons were distributed to everyone in the faculty of pharmacy UGM and they were displayed on their chests. Along with the red ribbons World AIDS Day 2010 stickers were also distributed to all the participants of the Lembar Xpresi activity.

Another project that was organized was the “Red Ribbon Mosaic” that was made out of multicoloured papers (especially red), glue and markers.

Some classes also had a presentation at UGM. These presentations explained World AIDS Day and introduced IPSF.

World AIDS Day in Israel "Growing up with HIV, what does that mean for those children?"

Organizing association: ASRN Activity Chairperson: Lina Heled

The campaign in Israel was a four-day event that started on the 29th of November with volunteer training. A speaker from The Committee for the Struggle Against AIDS talked about HIV and AIDS in Israel.

The next day people could watch a movie called Angels in America. If you are interested, you can find the trailer here:

htttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTDcbJcCGTE The day after that, official World AIDS Day, people were invited to wear red to school. There was also a discussion on pediatric HIV held at the school: growing up with HIV, what does that mean for those children?

Throughout the whole week the volunteers distributed condoms and information on HIV/AIDS as well as testing in the city of Beer Sheva. Additionally, anonymous HIV testing was available.

The last day of the campaign took place on December 14th. Volunteers came to a center for at-risk youths in Beer Sheva. The theme was sexual education.

World AIDS Day in Croatia “Positive Concert”

Organising Association: Croatian Pharmacy and Medical Biochemistry Students’ Association; CPSA Activity Chairperson: Eugen Javor

The aim of their campaign was to raise the awareness about this disease among students. They also educated about other STDs, including gonorrhea, chlamydia, hepatitis, HPV, genital herpes and syphilis. They promoted the “Positive Concert”, whose aim is to raise funds for fighting HIV and help affected persons, as well as to promote tolerance and help them to avoid discrimination.

The materials used in the campaign were informational leaflets, brochures, posters and booklets, which the students acquired from CAHIV and IPSF. They also distributed condoms and tickets for the above mentioned concert.

The organizers had a stand at the Student’s Center where they distributed the materials and reminded their colleagues about World AIDS/HIV Day and invited them to get more informed about these diseases.

Overall, it was a successful campaign in which they encountered a lot of interest from the students.

A lot of them asked for more condoms but due to the crisis in Croatia the organizers were only able to get a small number of them. As for feedback it was difficult to run a questionnaire but they did see that the students were thoroughly reading the booklets given to them.

World AIDS Day in Serbia "Stranger in the night, AIDS in the morning"

Organizing association: NAPSer- Serbia Activity Chairperson: Nina Bukumirovic

To mark World AIDS Day there was a public event in the country. The event took place in several locations, such as the student campus, Medical Faculty hall, Dormitory C and the clinical center. Stands were set up with questionnaires and surveys to give to citizens and medical workers. The students also delivered ribbons, promotional materials and condoms. Stands were also set up at the college downtown campus and clinical center. Pictures were posted and later broadcast on LCD display as well. The photos covered the ways in which HIV can and cannot be transferred.

World AIDS Day Egypt

World Aids Day in Egypt "Leave Your Print!"

Organizing association: Alexandria Scientific Pharmaceutical Students' Association ASPSA – Egypt Committee: Public Health Committee Assisting Committees: Public Relations and Publication Committees The students from Alexandria decided to organize an event in collaboration with ASSA (Alexandria Scientific Students’ Association) and Caritas (a huge Egyptian charity NGO) to increase the public’s awareness about AIDS. The campaign was divided into several stations. Two volunteers explained to people the different aspects of the disease. The first station (Know More) explained methods of transmission, that the virus can be transmitted from one person to another through syringes, blood transfusion and sexual intercourse. All of this was explained through interactive games. There was a huge number of people interested in joining the games and hearing the explanations. The second station (Promise Tree) encourage the public to write the word “cure” on a piece of paper and contribute their writing to the tree of hope. Its aim was to give HIV positive people a hope for the cure.

The third station (See the HIV patient) contains a mirror covered with a piece of cloth hung over it. Different people would stand in from of the mirror and when the cloth was removed people wouldn’t see just their reflection, but would also see the reflection of many people around them. One of those people could be infected with HIV and that illustrated that there could be someone who is an HIV carrier and you wouldn’t have a clue.

The last station had a big piece of cloth and paint. If the person agreed with the team that HIV should be eradicated, that carriers shouldn’t be shut out of the society and that they would protect themselves, then they would leave their HANDPRINT! During the campaign, a press conference was held to explain to the press why the campaign was organized. The head of Caritas talked about the importance of media in raising awareness about HIV. Members of the press decided that there should be more focus on HIV from the NGOs, governments and the media to help eradicate HIV. The campaign was held in the open air. The day was full of colors, people dancing and there were several bands that performed onstage to attract people to our campaign.

World Aids Day in Portugal "The Street Campaign" Organising Association: AEFFUL – Associação dos Estudantes da Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa Activity Chairperson: Information, Promotion and Education for Health Cabinet (GIPES) For World AIDS Day the students in Portugal organized a course on the formation of mediators for the education in health of AIDS, STDs and addiction as well as a street campaign. This year marks the 15th year for the course. It is one of their biggest activities and definitely their biggest street campaign.

The organizers started the promotion two weeks in advance when they sent out e-mails to all the egroups and put up posters around the University.

Two members of GIPES went to the TV show Curto-Circuito to promote the street campaign as well as the prevention of HIV/AIDS. At the Shopping Centre Colombo posters were put up and flyers were distributed.

This activity was very important for the organizing team. As in previous years the team counted on the collaboration of PhD Professor Odette Ferreira who is very important in assuring a good, structured program.

The course had openings for 60 students and filled 56 places. All of the participants were at the street campaign, which took place inside a shopping center where it’s easier to approach people.

They proved to be prepared to advise people and bring their attention to the matter.

At the end of the activity the organizing team administered a quiz to all of the participants to get their feedback on the organization, the structure of the program, lecturers and the campaign preparation; the results were positive.

World AIDS Day in Malta "The Red Ribbon"

Organizing association: MPSA (Malta Pharmaceutical Students’ Association) Activity Chairperson: Sara Jo Cassar

As part of the yearly observance of World AIDS Day, an awareness campaign was held to raise awareness and break down the stigma still surrounding HIV/AIDS. A packet was compiled comprising of informative material and red ribbons and was distributed to leading pharmacies in Malta and Gozo.

On the day of the event, a live re-creation of the red ribbon was created by students who participated in the event by wearing a red shirt. Additionally, the MPSA Health Campaign also organized a non-profit party called Play Safe. Tickets to the party were sold for a donation of three euros, with all proceedings going to the Caritas Malta service Xefaq, a local non-profit association that is actively involved in helping people deal with AIDS. The events organized were highly successful and the public responded well to the events held during the above-mentioned days. It is unfortunately a reality that young people, despite having easily accessible information, are still unaware of the seriousness accompanying this disease. Therefore, the educational role at the base of this campaign remains of paramount importance to increase public health awareness.

The fundraising aspect was a novel feature in the events organized. None of the collected money was used to offset expenses of running the events- correct planning and strategic techniques were used to minimize costs at all stages. Members of the organization strived to lower costs by contributing personally by making the red ribbons used to collect money. Teaming up with other associations, such as a PR team, ensured adequate participation rate by the respondents. The inclusion of community pharmacists in the program served to encourage pharmacists to participate in the dissemination of information to the public in order to target people outside the university setting. Therefore, we would recommend for future activities using the strategic contact of community pharmacists with the public to reach a different target audience.

World AIDS Day in Malta

World AIDS Day Honorable Mention EPSF AIDS Campaign Video and Young Pharmacy- Poland