-HIV, +Health in me (Less HIV, More Health in me) – Panama (IFMSA-Panama)

Name of the activity: -HIV, +Health in me (Less HIV, More Health in me)

Country/NMO: Panama (IFMSA-Panama)

Program: HIV/AIDS & Other STIs

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Campaign

General description:

This activity looks for eliminating stigma against people with HIV from medical students, as future health care providers, and general public. To do so, we managed to create some capacity building spaces where we got the information we needed to know more about the virus and what to do to eliminate stigma. Meanwhile, some posts were spreading through social media to educate population about all this information we were learning about; and at the end a promotional video with famous people of our country.
Then some speeches about comprehensive sexual education were delivered to adolescent student from two high schools from the city of our country

Focus area:

Prevention of all STIs or are specific STIs, STI testing, Removing stigmatization and empowering people living with HIV, Raising awareness among the general public about STIs

Problem statement:

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. This virus damages the immune system by destroying the white blood cells that fight infections. This puts people at risk for serious infections and certain types of cancer. AIDS means acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. It is the final stage of HIV infection. Not all people with HIV develop AIDS. All the inhabitants of our country are responsible and have also the opportunity to:
▪ Protect themselves.
▪ Awareness of other friends in the prevention of HIV / AIDS.
Taking into account the latest estimates on HIV and AIDS in our country:
– Number of people living with HIV: 21,000 [19,000 – 23,000]
– Prevalence in people between 15 and 49 years old: 0.8% [0.8% – 0.9%]
– People at least 15 years living with HIV: 21,000 [19,000 – 23 000]
– Women aged at least 15 years living with HIV: 6200 [5700 – 6800]
– Children from 0 to 14 years old living with HIV: N/A
– Deaths due to AIDS <1000 [<500 – <1000]
– Orphans due to AIDS from 0 to 17 years of age: N/A
For the lack of sex education, we have come to the conclusion that both we as Medical students, as well as the adolescent students need to be informed about this subject. More than anything, we must bring the correct information to the general public, for that reason It is very important that we train and carry the message to the adolescents and adult people.

Target groups and beneficiaries:

Medical Students
Adolescent students
General Public in social media

Objectives and indicators of success:

● Encourage medical students and the population of the country to promote prevention against HIV- AIDS.
● Promote the training and organization of a group of medical students and teachers, to be fit in the proper propagation of the topic to the general public.
● Inform about HIV / AIDS and its prevention through campaigns on social networks.
● Raise awareness among adolescents about the dangers of having a sexual relationship without protection.

Methodology:

The activity will have three phases: Nov 18 – Nov 25
1. Training for facilitators
– Includes training by AID for AIDS for medical students
– Training: Communication Skills
2. Advertising on social networks: Nov 20 – Dec 8
– Promotional video on facebook and instagram, with characters from the Panamanian show.
– Capsules of Panamanian celebrities and publications with themes
related to the campaign in association accounts on Instagram
3. Campaign: Nov 27 – Dec 8
– Talks to schools
– Forum for medical students, together with a report on the activity by an infectious disease specialist

Plans for evaluation:

We measured the level of acceptance to the campaign of medical students and adolescent students from 1 to 5 where:
1 -> very bad
2 -> bad
3 -> regular
4-> good
5 -> very good
Also we measure how many likes in Instagram and Facebook got the posts we spread and how many new followers we got during the campaign