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News from the Caribbean as of
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'Know Your Status' HIV/AIDS campaign launches in Dominica
Thursday, November 23, 2006
by Malaika Laurent
Caribbean Net News Dominica Correspondent
Email: malaika@caribbeannetnews.com
ROSEAU, Dominica: The HIV/AIDS Unit is launching a 'Know your Status' campaign next week to encourage and boost voluntary HIV testing with counselling in Dominica.
This campaign will form part of the Unit’s World AIDS Day activities which will be observed on December 1.
HIV/AIDS Co-ordinator Julie Frampton says now is the ideal time for people to get free testing.
“There’s every reason for people to come forward and get tested now – there’s free medication, there’s support and care. If you know your status there is medication available that will prolong your life and of course make you a productive citizen of your country,” Frampton said in an interview this week.
Educators attached to the HIV/AIDS Coordinating Unit expect people to respond positively to the ‘Know Your Status’ campaign.
“Since we’ve started the free testing and the counselling have been available we have definitely seen people walking off the road and said I know you have free testing now, I’d like to get tested,” said Nurse Angela Desabaye, a health educator, who emphasised counselling prior to HIV testing.
As part of activities highlighting World AIDS Day, the HIV/AIDS Unit partnered with the Ministry of Education to train Health and Family Life teachers.
Also, a three-day workshop was organised by UNAIDS for Strategic Planning and Priority Setting for HIV/AIDS educators in four OECS countries: St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Dominica.
Desabaye noted that the objective of the training session with teachers is to target youth at schools.
“In Dominica we do have information that our youth are getting sexually active at very young age. We want to get to them before they get into sexual activity because once they get and they start having sex it is so much harder to get the behaviour change which is what we’re really seeking,” Desabaye said.
The workshop on Strategic Planning plans to strengthen capabilities to develop strategic plans for each country. It aims to provide an overview of the concepts and tools that will be used in the strategic planning process for the development of national strategic planning.
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