With activities in the 25 de Mayo square and at the Villa Adela Node, the HIV Area of the Directorate of Preventive Management and Promotion led a series of actions that included testing, dissemination of information, and distribution of condoms. University and health sector institutions participated.
“This is one more action within the multiple talks, training and awareness workshops that, through the HIV prevention area, we have carried out throughout the year,” noted Bernardita Zalisñak, Director of Preventive Management and Promotion of the Municipality of Concordia.
“As is the case with the different spaces of the Municipality and as the mayor Enrique Cresto indicates to us, the area is in permanent contact with the residents, raising awareness, attending to and accompanying those who need it and live with the human immunodeficiency virus,” she remarked.
Since 1988, World AIDS Day has been commemorated globally every December 1st. In this context, with the intention of raising awareness and promoting sexual health, the Municipality of Concordia carried out a day open to the community. “The day began in the morning in the 25 de Mayo square with rapid tests, distribution of condoms, and precise and reliable information. In the afternoon, at the Villa Adela node, we will provide an open talk for the residents of all the neighborhoods in the area,” commented Zalisñak.
“In Concordia, we currently have 200 beneficiaries of the program. We work in an articulated and permanent manner with the infectiology service of the Heras Hospital, which is where the people are referred from. Coordination and understanding between the different spaces involved is important because the most important thing is to be able to provide a response and accompaniment to the patients,” explained the official.
For her part, Florencia Prieto, Head of the infectiology area of the Heras Hospital, remarked: “This day is the culmination of a year's work. We are permanently, together with the Municipality, promoting testing, which is increasingly established in the population.”
“The motto for this year, proposed by the United Nations for the Fight against HIV, tells us that it is the communities that have to take the initiative and lead the campaigns, and that is how it has happened in our city. We have invited every person, laboratories, and public and private entities to collaborate with the dissemination and awareness-raising, and we have had a very good response,” pointed out Prieto, who also highlighted “the work of the University and professional associations such as the Circle of Biochemists. Many private laboratories joined the campaign today by providing rapid tests free of charge. For many decades there were myths and barriers that we are overcoming, and this is positive because it means guaranteeing rights to people,” she emphasized.
ACCOMPANIMENT
Among the institutions that were part of this day, there was the participation of the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences of UADER. Verónica Pagola, coordinator of the Concordia Headquarters of the Faculty, celebrated “experiencing this day with our nursing students to carry out tests and provide information to the population.”
Regarding the tests, she explained: “They are confidential and fast. With a small prick on the finger, the patient leaves with the result in five minutes. If necessary, it can be repeated and deepened based on the work with the Heras Hospital”
PERMANENT ACTION
María Marta Gilardi, a member of the Municipality's HIV Area, took stock of what was done during 2023: “It was an intense year, in which we went to talks in many schools and educational spaces, we carried out approaches in different neighborhoods of the city, we promoted awareness, and we accompanied the patients. There is a very coordinated dynamic, complying with what Mayor Cresto sets for us.".
"In addition, constant monitoring was carried out, food supplements were delivered to patients, and we will continue working this way. These public activities help us to inform, so that more people come forward and can get tested confidentially and without fear,” added Gilardi.