Embassy Newscentre

Embassy News 2008

Students queuing for voluntary HIV testing

PAS program encourages HIV/AIDS testing

Over 160 students from a secondary school in the eastern Ivorian town of Aboisso volunteered for HIV/AIDS screening tests while participating in an Embassy “HIV/AIDS Caravan” program in connection with World AIDS Day.  The program was organized jointly with CARE-Cote d’Ivoire, a PEPFAR partner.  More than 500 students watched films based on scenarios by young Africans covering various aspects of the fight against HIV/AIDS, followed by a discussion with health professionals. The Embassy also arranged a radio call-in program conducted simultaneously with the HIV/AIDs testing, with listeners asking for directions to the test site, as well as posing questions about confidentiality and how soon results would be available.  Local health authorities in the region were enthusiastic about the success of the program and asked the Embassy to return with more HIV/AIDS Caravans in order to encourage more people to be tested.  
 
Another program in Abidjan brought 100 junior high school students to the Embassy’s Information Resource Center to discuss a PEPFAR-subsidized book with stories related to HIV/AIDS, “Juste pour gouter.”  The discussion opened with a podcast of remarks by U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Mark Dybul, while the panelists included authors of stories in the book.  Two teenagers trained by Hope Worldwide shared their experiences to motivate responsible behavior.  The program focused on steps to take to fight HIV/AIDS among youth.  Participants promised to share what they had learned with their classmates, while each of the fifteen schools involved received copies of the book for follow up activities.  National and community radio covered the event.