The Projekt Test social campaign, which so far encouraged only Warsaw residents to perform HIV tests, will be launched all over Poland. The National Testing Day will take place on May 28, the Social Committee for AIDS announced on Monday.
Agata Kwiatkowska from the Social AIDS Committee (SKA) told PAP that on average 30 people per day performed tests in one of the two consultation and diagnostic points conducted by the Committee in Warsaw. During the campaign that started at the beginning of December, this number increased to 60-70 people per day.
Until recently, SKA ran one point – at ul. Chmielna 4. It was so popular that in January this year another one was opened – on the Praga bank of the Vistula, at ul. Targowa 44.
To some extent, we have managed to change social awareness. These points are developing very quickly, more and more people come to them. Young people started talking and asking about HIV, writing to us. This is probably the greatest value of this campaign – added Kwiatkowska.
However, she noted that in other regions of Poland, the test is not as easy as in Warsaw. We only have twenty-something testing points nationwide. They are not even available in all large cities, such as Katowice, she said.
SKA wants to change this situation. This is to be served, among others, by extension of the Project Test campaign to the whole country. On May 28, the Committee has planned a National Testing Day, similar to the Warsaw Testing Days, which have been organized since 2008.
We hope that all Consultation and Diagnostic Centers in Poland will take part in it. Maybe this day it will also be possible to launch test points in cities where they do not exist – said Kwiatkowska.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the diagnosis of the world’s first HIV infection. According to estimates, almost 60 million people have been infected with this virus since then, and 25 million have died from HIV / AIDS. In Poland, the first case of HIV infection was detected in 1985, so far over 13 have been reported. infections, but it is estimated that there are more than twice as many people with HIV in the country – even 30-35 thousand.
The Projekt Test campaign aims to promote the knowledge of one’s own serological status. As Grażyna Konieczna, the president of SKA, said during the Monday meeting with journalists, it is particularly important in Poland, because still approx. 30 percent. people find out about their infection very late, already at the stage of symptomatic infection.
In turn, the director of the National AIDS Center, Anna Marzec-Bogusławska, emphasized the importance of the operation of diagnostic and consultation points. She noted that it is in these facilities that more than half of the cases of new infections in Poland are detected.
She also assessed that the testing model functioning in Poland – free and anonymous, combined with an interview with an advisor both before and after the test, is highly valued in the world. The expression of this is, among others the fact that it is currently being introduced, inter alia, in Ukraine and Tajikistan, and next year Poland will chair the UNAIDS Program Council – a UN program aimed at combating the HIV / AIDS epidemic in the world. This year, Poland is the vice-chairman of the council.
The vice-president of the capital, Włodzimierz Paszyński, who participated in the meeting, emphasized that the Warsaw local government, as one of the few in Poland, did not limit the funds spent on activities related to the prevention of HIV / AIDS during the financial crisis. He also noted that there are already five places in the capital where HIV tests can be performed free of charge and anonymously. Warsaw is also one of the partners of the Projekt Test campaign.
The Social Committee for AIDS has been operating since 1993. More about the Projekt Test campaign can be found on the website www.projekttest.pl (PAP)