The
youth committee and the health department of the Azerbaijan
Red Crescent Society joined forces with the social ynion
to mark the International Memorial Day of People Who Died from
AIDS, May 21st 2006. This was the fifth time that the day was
commemorated in Azerbaijan. To find out level of awareness on
HIV and AIDS as well as people’s attitude towards those living
with HIV, ten volunteers of the society held a survey among 118
people in the national park of Baku. Red Crescent volunteers
also put out candles in form of a ribbon in memory of those
who have died because of AIDS.
The First International Memorial Day of People Who Died from
AIDS was marked in San-Francisco, USA in 1983. At that time,
several thousands of HIV-positive cases were registered in the
world and more than a thousand of people died from this dangerous
disease. Since then, the number of cases has exploded worldwide.
Statistics prove importance of the work
According to the official statistics, at present, 976 HIV-positive
people and 96 AIDS-related fatal cases are registered in Azerbaijan.
As Galib Aliyev, director of Azerbaijan AIDS centre said: “According
to the prognosis of world experts, to reveal a real number of
people infected with HIV, the official number should be
multiplied by ten, thus the real number could be estimated as
9,760. Furthermore, 102 people have reached a critical stage
of the infection and 104 HIV-infected people have received different
degrees of disability”.
Analyzing results of the survey performed by the youth
volunteers, it was found that:
- 98 out of 118 respondents had some knowledge about HIV and
AIDS;
- 82 people considered themselves well-informed about the infection;
At the same time, it was found out that:
- 51 people had information about where they should go to get
an HIV test;
- 67 people were not informed about it.
Concerning people’s attitude towards HIV-infected, it
was revealed that:
- 58 of respondents told about their negative attitude towards
those living with HIV;
- 46 people would treat them normally;
- 14 have a neutral attitude towards people living with HIV.
89 out of 118 respondents were not aware of the existence of
the International Memorial Day of People Who Died from AIDS.
Based on the results of the study, one can see that it is necessary
to continue promotion activities in this sphere as well as to
increase care for people living with HIV.
Peer education
HIV and AIDS is a global problem and the Azerbaijan Red Crescent
Society is part of global efforts to stop its spread. Since
2001, the organisation has been working with peer education
among teenagers. In 2003—2006, 727 peer educators reached 45,845
youth, patients of skin-venereal hospital, internally displaced people from the southern
camps.
Also in 2006, more volunteers, schoolchildren, university students
and commercial sex workers from Baku and six other regions will
be trained as HIV and AIDS peer educators. A number of seminars,
workshops and peer to peer discussions on HIV and AIDS will be held
these and other groups. In addition, it is planned to organize
visits of volunteers to people living with HIV and their
families in Baku and three other regions to offer them support
as well as delivering hygiene kits once a month.
“The Azerbaijan Red Crescent is always ready to provide
moral support to vulnerable people. People living with HIV
are especially sensitive because of people’s attitude
towards them. We are trying to do everything so that this category
of people will not feel isolated from the society,”
said Shaban Shayev, chairman of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent
youth and HIV and AIDS coordinator.
Cooperation
Within its HIV and AIDS project, society cooperates with several local
and international organizations. For example, the “social
union to fight AIDS” local non-governmental organization,
which works closely with people living with HIV, has been
invited to the number of Red Crescent events. The National Society
also collaborates with the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis
and malaria as well as UNAIDS, they are helping to distribute
the promotion materials issued by this organization.
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Volunteers
lit candles in the shape of the ribbon - the symbol of
AIDS - in memory of those who have died because of AIDS.
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Azerbaijan
Red Crescent youth gathered forces with the health department
as well as the social union of Azerbaijan to commemorate
the International Memorial Day of People Who Died from
AIDS.
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