BEFRIENDING HIV CARRIERS IS NOT DANGEROUS
Support A1+!“Due to the lack of information HIV/AIDS has become the plague of not only the 20th but also the 21st century”, said Elena Strizhak, expert of the “HIV carriers network in Ukraine” who has arrived in Armenia for cooperation and exchange of experience. Elena Strizhak herself has been a HIV carrier for the last six years. In Ukraine she fights vigorously against discrimination against virus carriers.
She does not hide the fact that she is a virus carrier and speaks about it quite calmly, saying that it is a form of work for her. According to her, there is no difference in the attitude towards the carriers in Armenia and in Ukraine.
«All those people have the same feelings in all the parts of the world. I have passed through that myself. But those who were to support me were next to me. As for those who upon learning the news left me, I'm not very much sorry for that. Now I do everything in order to support the virus carriers who have the same problem», said Elena Strizhak.
According to her, the reason that HIV carriers become social outcast is the low level of public awareness. In Ukraine Elena Strizhak's organization has created information centers in all the cities and regions in order to raise public awareness about the ways of catching AIDS; for example, making friends with a HIV carrier is not dangerous for catching the virus.
In Armenia NGO «Real world, real people» tries to soothe the public discrimination against HIV carriers with the help of the UNDP.
The NGO has realized a number of programs against discrimination. They have made posters with the photos of Armenian singers. The posters contain a warning to be careful not to get infected and a message to be tolerant towards those who have done it.
By the way, according to 2006 October statistics, there are 443 HIV carriers in Armenia. The majority has got infected via drug usage.
