AIDS Foundation East-West (AFEW) recently held a ‘Health School for Mothers and Children’ at the ‘Lesnaya Zhemchuzhina’ holiday resort in Samara. The event was financed by the Eureko Achmea Foundation and brought together women living with HIV from the Samara Region, Ulyanovsk Region and the Republic of Tatarstan. Read more about the event’s aims and format on www.afew.org…

Marina Cherkasova, Project Manager and Communications Officer in Russia, talked to three of the participants to find out why the event was important for them and about life for women living with HIV in Russia. Read more…

The Vienna Express adds a new date to its calendar in Russia! On Saturday 10^th July, the massive festival of electronic music and extreme sports will take place in the countryside near Fedorovka in the Samara Region. The philosophy of the festival is simple: healthy lifestyles, adrenalin, music and sport, love and peace to the world forever! More information is available on the festival website: http://gesfest.ru/

AFEW’s partner organisation Youth Theatre ‘Light’ will lead Vienna Express activities at the festival. The campaign aims:

• To raise awareness among festival-goers of the risk of HIV and how to protect themselves from it;
• To change young people’s perceptions of HIV and AIDS;
• To attract attention to the harm reduction movement and the goal of universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support;
• To collect more than 100 wishes from visitors on the theme of HIV/AIDS for the East-West Wish Tree at the AIDS2010 conference in Vienna.

By Mikhail Ushakov,  Director of Youth Theatre ‘Light’

On July 3, volunteers from the Youth Theatre ‘Light’ alighted from the Vienna Express bus on the site of the Grushinsky Festival, which was held again this year for the 37th time!

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