On the 20th of October the all-Russian campaign «HIV/AIDS Test», organized by the Ministry of Health Care of the Russian Federation in partnership with JSC «Russian railways» and the fund "Humanitarian Action", ended in St-Petersburg.
This campaign was aimed to prevent HIV/AIDS infection, to inform citizens and to increase motivation for testing and offered to pass anonymous analysis free of charge, as well as pre- and post-test counseling by specialists.
In Russia large-scale activities for HIV/AIDS prevention are held annually, in which an increasing number of people, including large enterprises, state, commercial and public organizations, participate each time. Thanks to such activities HIV/AIDS-test becomes the same trend of a conscious and healthy life-style, as photoradiography, test for blood sugar level, flu vaccination or examination of the cardiovascular system.
The campaign «HIV/AIDS Test» last in Russia about three, a specially equipped car started on July, 7, in Vladivostok and, having overcome more than 20 thousand km., completed its journey in St-.Petersburg on October 20. During this time, residents of Krasnoyarsk, Chita, Ulan-Ude, Barnaul, Kemerovo, Omsk, St.-Petersburg and other cities were able to undergo free of charge anonymous test for HIV/AIDS infection. 24 regions took part in the campaign, among them leaders in testing activity were: Nizhnevartovsk (1645 test participants), Irkutsk (1446 people), Kurgan (1290 people), Smsrs (1227 people). The first place among the regions in terms of the number of citizens who took part in the test was Chelyabinsk (2039 people).
JSC «REP Holding» became the only industrial enterprise of St.-Petersburg participating in this campaign. On October 18, the action was held at the Nevsky Plant and Electropult plant, where specially equipped mobile laboratories worked during the day. The action evoked great response with the employees of the Holding’s divisions, nearly 200 people took part in the rapid test in a day. Participation in the action demonstrated the high degree of employees’ responsibility and the commitment to healthy lifestyle, which is an integral part of the company’s corporate culture.
The closing ceremony at the Moscow railway station was attended by Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Sergey Kraevoy, Chairman of the Health Committee of St.-Petersburg Mikhail Dubin, First Deputy Head of the Central Directorate of Health of the Russian Railways Sergey Alekseev, Chief Independent Specialist of the Ministry of Health on the Problems of HIV/AIDS Diagnostics and Treatment Eugeny Voronin, Chief Medical Officer of the AIDS Center in St.-Petersburg Denis Gussev and PR Director of the REP Holding Marya Vasyanina.
During the ceremony Sergey Kraevoy noted: «Within the frame of this action 25 thousand people were able to pass the test and to get consultation from specialists of AIDS Centers in our car and on the territory of the stations during car parking. The opportunity to find out its HIV/AIDS status was received by employees of 60 organizations, of which 14 were enterprises belonging to Russian Railways and 5 educational institutions. Knowing your status gives people a chance to go to the AIDS Center, get treatment, keep the life quality and expectancy and to have a healthy family».
«First of all, I want to thank people who organized the opportunity to participate in this great-scale all-Russian project. I am glad that we became involved in the development of a new cultural pattern of attitude towards own health, that we were given opportunity to provide employees with reliable information about AIDS, to tell about preventive measures and to conduct express-testing. The products of our enterprises are designed to ensure the energy safety of the country, and now we became also participants in an equally important program designed to ensure safety in the health area. We hope that this is not the last such action implemented at our enterprises, we are open to partnership, ready to fully support these initiatives and actively participate in this kind of socially significant events. I would like to wish everyone good health and, of course, success in this good and important undertaking», - Marya Vasyanina said, summing up the results of the participation in the action.