As part of the Vienna Express campaign, AFEW’s partners in Samara, Youth Theatre ‘Light’ (www.theater-light.ru) are holding a series of events to generate more awareness of HIV and related issues in the local community.

The first event will take place on July 3 during the Grushinsky Bard Festival, a colourful annual gathering of singer-songwriters on the Mastryk Lakes outside of Samara. A tent will be set up near the main stage, where festival-goers can pick up information about HIV and related issues, ask questions and obtain free condoms. All will be invited to send their personal message to the AIDS2010 conference in Vienna.

At the same time, the show’s presenters will talk to the audience about the campaign and remind them of the methods for preventing HIV infection. Finally, a quiz on HIV/AIDS will be held at the festival site.

The Vienna Express bids farewell to Samara on July 14 with a press conference. Watch this space for more details of the time and venue!

For more information, contact Marina Cherkasova, marina_cherkasova@afew.org, +7 (495) 980 1322

On June 24, on the eve of the International Day against Drug Use and Illicit Trafficking (June 26), the Second All-Russian Conference ‘HIV/AIDS in the Media Mirror’ opened at the Central House of Journalists in Moscow. Representatives of youth-oriented Russian publications, civil society and healthcare institutions gathered to share their ideas and views. The main aim of the conference, which was organised by the Russian Union of Journalists and UNAIDS was to encourage the media to promote public health and HIV prevention.

Despite the current efforts to address it, Russia’s HIV epidemic is still spreading at a rapid rate. Today, around 500,000 people are registered as living with HIV in Russia. Most Russian and international experts put the true figure much higher, however. The major driver of the Russian epidemic is injecting drug use. Read more…