On the market, the public was certainly few in number in the morning but onlookers who wished could take a fun and informative tour in several stages with, in their hands, a solidarity passport.
“Grandparents raise awareness among their grandchildren”
The first stop on this journey is prevention through the use of condoms (available free of charge at family planning centers). But you still need to know how to use it correctly. The second stopover discusses the modes of transmission of the virus to better protect yourself from it. Screening is the third stop on the journey. Then comes the treatment which now makes it possible to no longer transmit the virus when an HIV-positive person has an undetectable viral load thanks to their treatment, when it is taken correctly. Fifth and final step of the journey: raising awareness of the discrimination against HIV-positive people that is all too present.
“We are addressing this Thursday to an adult audience and adolescents. Among older people, we no longer protect ourselves from STIs in general,” specifies Séverine Verscheure from the Local Center for Health Promotion (CLPS) in the province of Luxembourg.
Condoms and testing
To reduce the disease, two ingredients are essential: the use of condoms and screening regularly and at the right time. “If we manage to resume wearing condoms, by pinching the reservoir and checking its expiry date, and above all screening people at risk, we can eradicate the virusexplain Géraldine Magnette and Sylvie Petit from Sofelia family planning in Arlon. During actions carried out like here on the market, people take a condom available on the stand without actually taking the route. It’s already a start.
It also happens that grandparents stop and take information to pass it on to their grandchildren in order to raise awareness. It’s intergenerational prevention.”
Many actions in the coming days
If the action P’Arlon Sida took place in the capital this Thursday, it will not be the only one, far from it. Information sessions, distributions of red ribbons and condoms are organized in train stations, medical centers, in weekly markets, in shops, schools, the Totem cinema in particular, until December 3.
An HIV-Stop discrimination animation will take place at CAL/Drugs’Care in Arlon this Friday, November 29 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Competitions and real games on HIV-AIDS discrimination on the Facebook and Instagram pages of the Libramont pluralistic family planning center on December 1 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free HIV testing at the Arlon family and marriage planning and consultation center on November 25 and December 2 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. and November 26 and December 3 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. At CAL/Drugs’Care in Arlon on December 2 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and December 12 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Additional information: https://preventionsida.org
