The Third Newsletter on Cross Border Cooperation For HIV/AIDS

CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION FOR HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND IMPACT MITIGATION IN SOUTHERN
CAUCASUS AND RUSSIAN FEDERATION | NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2014 Issue# 3
HIV/AIDS PREVENTION
AND IMPACT MITIGATION
IN SOUTH CAUCASUS & RUSSIA
Different people
Unique life stories
Equal rights
Cross-Border Cooperation For HIV/AIDS Prevention And Impact
Mitigation In Southern Caucasus And Russian Federation
IN THIS ISSUE
MARCH 2013
Cross-Border Cooperation For HIV/AIDS Prevention And Impact Mitigation
In Southern Caucasus And Russian Federation is a two year EU funded project
(2012-2014)
Implementing agencies:
Georgia: World Vision Georgia; Real People Real Vision, Network of PLWHA
Armenia: World Vision Armenia; Real World Real People, Network of PLWHA
� Regional Desk Review Report
� Do Tell Your Neighbor!
� European HIV Testing Week
� Three Stories
Azerbaijan: World Vision Azerbaijan; Struggle Against AIDS Public Union,
Network of PLWHA
Russian Federation: World Vision Russia; Positive Initiative
Ukraine: East Europe & Central Asia Union of PLWHA (ECUO)
Locations:
Georgia: Shida Kartli and Adjara regions
Azerbaijan: Baku and surrounding areas
Armenia: Lori and Gegharkunik regions
Russian Federation: Moscow
Project’s main objective is to mobilize National Government organizations and non-state actors in Southern Caucasus and Russian
Federation for join actions to mitigate HIV/AIDS risks among migrant workers and mobile populations (including Most at Risk
Populations and People Living with HIV) from Southern Caucasus ensuring improved access to prevention, treatment, support and
care services in both source and destination countries
Don’t forget to follow the project’s updates at https://www.facebook.com/hivaidspreventioninsoutherncaucasusandrf?ref=hl or
Contact Us:
Ms. Katerina Zezulkova
HIV/AIDS Migration Sub Regional Project Manager
[email protected]
CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION FOR HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND IMPACT MITIGATION IN SOUTHERN
CAUCASUS AND RUSSIAN FEDERATION | NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2014 Issue# 3
Regional Desk Review Report
In August of 2013, a Desk Review Report was circulated by the project via a Regional Network group mailing list. It was an extensive and consuming work process for all country
teams involved in the project. Back in November 2012, Mr. Archil Talavkadze was hired to
provide consultancy for the report. Mr.Talakvadze had quite a productive working experience with World Vision, namely by developing Policy and Service Gap analyses for Georgia
within the framework of the Cross Border Joint Advocacy for HIV prevention South Caucasus Country project.
The report consists of country reviews on migration stocks, policies and regulations, and
provides recommendations on areas of advocacy at policy level, indicates advocacy needs
at the level of implementation of prevention, treatment and care services. Subsequently,
the recommendations include the following areas: policy-making, service provision and HIV
awareness among migrants. Literature review and focus group discussions were used as research instruments for the reports as well as cases of best practices in the field of HIV and
migration in the four participating countries.
“World Vision created this wonderful opportunity to conduct comprehensive review on HIV and migration. Within the global AIDS response, migrants
are often identified prioritized as a “key population” for HIV prevention activities, although from one country to another, the echo of this priority is not as
well represented in the policies, as it is envisaged in the global level.
The desk review gave us a chance to see that HIV policies or programs,
as well as migration policies and programs overall, do not go far enough, and
at some point, do not even complement each other in Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Armenia and Russia. Policy-makers should understand the relationship between migration and HIV in order to target interventions to those migrants
and mobile populations who do face increased risk of HIV infection. It is clear
that efforts must be made to reduce barriers to the services, importance of
ensuring access goes beyond mobile population and refers to the and whole
community”- Archil Talavadze, Author of the Desk Review Report, Deputy
Minister at the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance of Georgia
Do Tell Your Neighbor!
Social media campaigns are an integral part of any successful project. In September, the
ECUO provided comprehensive social trainings for each country teams participating in the
project (including local partners and World Vision staff). Additional training sessions were
delivered to media representatives on improving coverage of HIV topics in media and social
networks.
Do Tell Your Neighbor social media campaign was a follow up to the ECUO’s media trainings
in all four implementing countries. The campaign was launched on November 25th, the start
of the European HIV Testing Week, via social networking sites and ECUO website. The aim
of the campaign was to promote testing in an informal way and to communicate with the
general public, using photos of everyday life with people of all ages and occupations. These
people could be our neighbors and friends, co-workers, loved ones, and other people we see
every day.The photos for the campaign were produced by ECUO, using a volunteer network
of photographers and actors. ECUO volunteers portrayed the characters in the photos. Each
photo was accompanied by a short text, describing the content of the photo. In addition to the storyline, the text also contained
telephone numbers by which you can find out more about free HIV testing, and all the regulations concerning HIV/AIDS in the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.
CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION FOR HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND IMPACT MITIGATION IN SOUTHERN
CAUCASUS AND RUSSIAN FEDERATION | NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2014 Issue# 3
The photos were shared via Facebook page of the project and distributed to stakeholders by e-mail.
It is noteworthy that the campaign gained a lot of attention on social networking websites. The popularity level of the project’s Facebook page reached its maximum in December. Each photo had between 100-300 views. This regional campaign once again served
as an awareness raising platform for the general population and for migrants, as to the importance of HIV testing.
You can learn more about the campaign by visiting its’ page:
CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION FOR HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND IMPACT MITIGATION IN SOUTHERN
CAUCASUS AND RUSSIAN FEDERATION | NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2014 Issue# 3
European HIV Testing Week
European HIV Testing Week was introduced to raise awareness around the importance of HIV testing among the most at risk
populations. It encouraged healthcare professionals, CBOs and NGOs active across Europe to provide testing. European HIV Testing
Week was first launched in November 22nd and lasted for one week, ending on November 29th. You can find more information
about the testing week and how you can get involved on this web-page: http://www.hivtestingweek.eu/about-hiv-testingweek
Along with its local partners and associate partners, the project joined the European HIV Testing Week in a joint regional action.The
following events took place:
Armenia:
From November 22nd to the 29th, in the cities of Vanadzor, Stepanavan, Gyumri, Gavar and Yerevan, organizations including World
Vision Armenia, RWRP NGO, and the National Center for AIDS Prevention joined with other organizations, institutions, key policymakers and government leaders throughout Europe for one week to increase awareness of the benefits of HIV testing.
The European HIV Testing Week was aimed at reducing late diagnosis by ensuring that more people are aware of their current HIV
status. “Get Tested and Live.Tell your neighbor” was introduced to create dialogue and to encourage particularly populations at high
risk of contraction to ask for an HIV test, and to ensure more HIV tests are offered to people at high risk.
“Theater for changes” presented the interactive “Who could imagine” forum-performances on HIV/AIDS issues for young people in
five cities – Yerevan,Vanadzor, Gyumri, Stepanavan and Gavar (events in Vanadzor and Gyumri were organized within the framework
of the Rusaid project, implemented by NCAP).
A team of same-day health providers from National AIDS Centre provided testing and HIV related counseling. Those who wanted
a test were tested (by drawing blood from a finger) and were informed about their HIV status in just 20 minutes. The pre- and
post-counseling was provided by the specialists
at the National Center for AIDS Prevention,
with complete confidentiality. Outreach
workers from partner organizations, RWRP,
PPAN, PINK, and WV youth peer educators
approached young people participating in the
events, explained the importance of HIV testing,
and encouraged them to receive counseling
and testing. During the events in Yerevan
passers-by were also approached by outreach
workers, given HIV prevention and HIV testing
promotion messages and encouraged to receive
HIV related counseling and testing.
“Theater for changes” presented the interactive “Who could imagine” forumperformances on HIV/AIDS issues for young people
During the testing day in Gavar and Yerevan,
journalists from Gavar TV and ARMNEWS TV
made a stand-up and get tested to HIV and
encouraged others to do the same. Also NGO
representatives, forum theater representatives,
university and school staff received HIV
testing and counseling. According to Theater
for Changes actors, they always wanted to
get tested for HIV and to be aware of their
CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION FOR HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND IMPACT MITIGATION IN SOUTHERN
CAUCASUS AND RUSSIAN FEDERATION | NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2014 Issue# 3
HIV status. Finally they were provided with an
opportunity to do so easily.
To sum up the week, a public event has been
organized on December 1st, in the framework
of World AIDS Day. The event took place in
Yerevan, in the square adjacent to building 5,
Northern Avenue, where youth and passers-by
had an opportunity to listen to music and get
HIV tested (detailed information on this event
is provided in the next report). Counseling
was provided in special tents and testing
was conducted in an ambulance by NCAP
professionals.
These events promoted the importance of HIV
testing, challenged the stereotypes regarding the
testing, and affirming that getting tested for HIV
is not shameful. During the HIV testing week
426 people got tested and learned their HIV
status. This is a result of a joint effort by event
organizers, WV ADPs staff and partners who
supported mobilizing people, outreach workers
and counselors from RWRP, PPAN, NCAP,
PINK, youth peer educators, NCAP health
professionals, and Armenian celebrities. Rapid
tests were provided by Mission East.
The events promoted the importance of HIV testing, challenged the stereotypes
regarding the testing, and affirming that getting tested for HIV is not shameful.
“In Armenia people are not informed about HIV that much and
many people have misconceptions about HV and people living with HIV.
The huge part of PLHIV in Armenia does not know about their status and
think that it is shameful to get tested to HIV.
The “Real World, Real People“ NGO and World Vision Armenia in a
scope of “Cross-Border Cooperation for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Impact
Mitigation in Southern Caucasus and Russian Federation project held
Rapid Testing events “Get tested and live“ to motivate people get tested
on HIV. During 20 minutes people can get tested and learned about their
HIV status. This was the reason why young people were very active. I got
tested too during the events, and I am sure there is no need to feel shame
and be afraid of getting tested to HIV. Just get tested and live.” - Babken
Gharabaghtsyan, 21 peer educator from Gavar.
CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION FOR HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND IMPACT MITIGATION IN SOUTHERN
CAUCASUS AND RUSSIAN FEDERATION | NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2014 Issue# 3
Azerbaijan:
On the November 22nd, HIV Testing Week started at the Azerbaijan Oil Academy where 287persons were tested for HIV. During
testing week there were a number of testing points open in educational and public places: November 23nd - “28Mall” Shopping
and Entertainment Center, November 24th – Baku Central International Bus Station, November 25th – “Odlar Yurdu” University,
and November 26th – Azerbaijan State Language University. There was testing events in educational places in Astara and Lenkeran.
Event was implemented jointly with LP and National AIDS Center within the framework of European HIV Testing Week, November
22nd – 29th.
Georgia:
The project associate partners “HIV/AIDS Patients Support Foundation” and “TANADGOMA” supported the project by providing
mobile clinic (“TANADGOMA”) for rapid testing and mobilized groups in the regions for testing (Batumi and Zugidi branch of “HIV/
AIDS Patients Support Foundation”.)
In addition to the free rapid testing, the project also introduced forum theatre1 on HIV and migration issues. The 15 minutes
forum theatre performance was staged in four cities across Georgia and thematic discussions between the audience and the stage
performers followed the performances.
The following activities took place during the European HIV Testing Week and the World AIDS Day.
22nd November, Tbilisi – free rapid HIV testing and forum theatre performance at Tbilisi Medical University. Participant target
group: medical students.
25th November, Gori – free rapid HIV testing and forum theatre performance at Gori Municipality. Participant target group:
municipality staff.
1 Forum theatre was staged by the professional theatre director hired by RPRV, who worked closely with RPRV initiative group and developed a joint scenario
and planned a performance. The forum theatre is to be replicated by project peer educators in their respective regions during the further stage of project
implementation.
CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION FOR HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND IMPACT MITIGATION IN SOUTHERN
CAUCASUS AND RUSSIAN FEDERATION | NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2014 Issue# 3
29-30 November, Zugdidi – by bringing over the mobile
clinic for HIV rapid testing and forum theatre performance,
the project joined local activities for the European HIV Testing
Week and World AIDS Day week in Zugdidi, namely the youth
conference and charity theatre show at Zugdidi Theatre and the
University. Participant target group: students, youth, teachers,
lecturers, medical personal.
1st December, Batumi – the project joined local activities
such as a conference and a concert at the basketball hall and
Press Café, providing free HIV testing and the forum theatre.
Participant target group: youth and students.
In total, 136 people got tested for HIV during the European HIV
Testing Week in accordance with all the required confidentiality
regulations. More than 1000 persons2 attended the forum
theatre in all the above cities.
It is noteworthy that the media coverage of the above events was
Project volunteers give a performance based on forum theatre methodology at
done by regional media networks. Based on the YouTube views, a
Tbilisi State Medical University in the framework of European HIV Testing Week
total of 373 viewers were reach by the message of the campaign
among the regional populations (Gori, Zugdidi). It’s noteworthy
that on November 22nd, the “Do Tell Your Neighbor” regional
campaign of the project was launched, alongside the opening of European HIV Testing Week.The campaign presented a photo collage
of the actors and photographs from ECUO. Each photo had its own storyline and message, aimed at raising awareness about the
importance of testing. The campaign was launched on the Facebook page of the project and was sent to in country networks and
WVG staff via e-mail.
A mobile clinic for HIV testing in Zugdidi
For the International AIDS Day celebration, the project joined local events in Batumi
2 Estimated based on the number of seats taken during the performances and also by number of distributed T-Shirts "HIV Concerns All. Get Tested and Live" and
IEC materials. More than 700 T-Shirts were distributed in the above cities during or/after the Forum Theatre performance and 500 IEC materials "Take this Info
Into Your Luggage" by the HIV/AIDS Patients Support Foundation branches in Batumi and Zugdidi.
CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION FOR HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND IMPACT MITIGATION IN SOUTHERN
CAUCASUS AND RUSSIAN FEDERATION | NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2014 Issue# 3
Russian Federation:
On November 22nd, within the framework of European HIV Testing Week, a
conference dedicated to fighting against HIV/AIDS was held at the I.M. Sechenov
First Moscow State Medical University.
The joint initiative was organized within the scope of information campaign “Red
Ribbon.” The campaign was supported by the UN representative in the Russian
Federation, Azerbaijan Youth Organization in Russia and All Russian Union of
People Living with HIV.
Students, university professors and lecturers, people who are HIV positive and
also Ms. Russia 2011 Natalia Gantimurova, took part in the conference.
In his speech deputy head of international affairs at Moscow State Medical University, professor Peter Litvitsiiki, highlighted that AIDS is a disease rapidly spreading
nowadays. He noted: “It’s highly important that young people are very well aware of this disease. Our university does all it can in
this matter”. During his interview at the internet portal “Russia for All”, MD candidate Samir Aliev, who is also a member of AMOR
, spoke about the aims of the events organized during the European HIV Testing Week.“The Campaign “Youth Against AIDS” started
back in 2010 with an initiative from the Azerbaijan Youth Organization in Russia (AMOR) by Leila Alieva. Each year we expand the
borders of our campaign and include more projects, one of which is the opening of the European HIV Testing Week. The aim of this
action will encourage people to openly speak about this problem, find out about the importance of testing, being unafraid to get
tested and if necessary to receive treatment” - said Aliev. He also mentioned that the campaign which was started at Moscow State
University will also be replicated in other cities in Russia and will end in Azerbaijan.
Within the framework of the campaign, there will also be lectures held at public schools.
Ms. Russia 2011, Natalia Gantimurova also joined the conference dedicated to
fighting against HIV/AIDS, within the framework of European HIV Testing Week.
During the meeting, the exposure to HIV, transmission and treatment of HIV were
discussed
Three Stories
The project developed a second set of information, education and communication (IEC) materials regionally by the end of 2013. The
materials present unique real life stories of migrants and their family members on how they got infected during migration, what kind
of challenges they had to overcome and nowadays enjoy life with it’s all fullness.
Lili from Armenia, Giorgi from Georgia and Murad from Azerbaijan contracted the disease
through different ways but with the help of PLWHA community based organizations and ARV
therapy they started a family and are regular members of society. Consequently, the aim of the
IEC is to raise awareness on various risky behaviors that might acquire during migration and on
early prevention and testing, as well as importance of ARV treatment.
“Three Stories” are set to be distributed among relevant project stakeholders and peer educators who afterwards would disseminate them among their beneficiaries: migrants and MARPs.
Online version of the “Three Stories” is available on project’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/hivaidspreventioninsoutherncaucasusandrf

Download Report