In order to meet those objectives, health planners have recognized the importance of building stronger relations with the public and members in the media industry in the country and have therefore organized a special road show, to coincide with the celebrations of the St. Kitts Music Festival, especially given the heightened sexual activity that is believed to be associated with the event.
Therefore on Friday this week, 29th June, 2012, dubbed Regional HIV Testing Day, the Caribbean HIV&AIDS Alliance’s (CHAA), will have an Information Booth at Prince’s Street, Basseterre, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
According to officials, “The overarching objective of this special initiative is to heighten public awareness on the critical importance of voluntary counseling and testing in preventing the spread of the HIV infection and to mobilize the population in general to be tested.”
CHAA will distribute information brochures and prevention commodities. Assistance will also be given to the National AIDS Secretariat in registration and documentation of persons accessing testing and counseling services throughout day. Further, CHAA will have Community Animators on hand to assist with motivating and recruiting individuals to access the free services and as well as to share information on the benefits of testing and using prevention materials. Condom demonstrations will be done as necessary.
CHAA said it is pleased to collaborate with the National AIDS Secretariat and Scotiabank to mark the 5th year anniversary of this event in the Caribbean. On that day, Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) will be conducted at temporary stations and free HIV counseling and testing with same day results will be made available; all results are strictly confidential.
The Regional HIV Testing Day Initiative was started in 2008 by the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS (CBMP) in collaboration with the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) and Scotiabank.