Raising HIV/AIDS awareness

A national campaign has recently started to develop awareness among NGOs, social workers and staff at Syria’s National AIDS Programme. As part of the new strategy a workshop was recently held to provide more and better information to those tackling the deadly disease. “The workshop focused on education on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and how to look at Communicating Behaviour Change (CBC) to prevent young people in Syria from becoming infected with AIDS,” Dr Imad al-Daker, national officer for HIV/AIDS at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) office in the capital, Damascus, said. “The course has provided me with good information that enables me to raise awareness among prisoners to protect themselves from AIDS infection and give them hope, especially those who are imprisoned in a special high risk facility that includes about 60 commercial sex workers and drug addicts,” said Najah al-Najjar, a social worker who provides counselling and helps at a women’s prison in Damascus. “I did not know that shaking hands may transmit HIV/AIDS, if, for example, the hand is wounded and that infection among newborns can occur through breast feeding if the nipple is cracked,” she said. Communities must be prepared to accept HIV/AIDS testing and HIV-related services and assistance being offered by counselling and referral centres, especially for women and young people, she added. “The number of HIV/AIDS cases reported in the first quarter of this year, 2005, is 341, of which 134 are foreigners and 207 Syrians. Non-Syrians testing positive have been immediately deported to their own countries,” said Dr Maysaa Mardiny, National AIDS Programme head, speaking in Damascus. The recent workshop was held by the national AIDS programme in cooperation with UNICEF. Fourteen community-based organisations and NGOs as well as social workers involved in prison services took part. The NGOs recently came together in an effort to coordinate preventive work for different high-risk groups, under an initiative of the Syrian Family Planning Association (SFPA), in cooperation with UNICEF. Volunteers from NGOs usually visit locations such as prisons and night clubs to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, in addition to communicating with young people who visit AIDS counselling centres. “Societal behaviour change is essential, especially regarding social marketing of condoms and other HIV-related services and supplies, as well as approaching the epidemic seriously at all levels, starting from the national level and down to the local community,” according to Dr Gary Gleason, an expert in communication skills, speaking in the capital. “Strengthening current communication with young people in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention is our focus. We are working to improve the knowledge, awareness and behaviour of the most vulnerable and the most high risk groups,” Gleason said.