Young people hand out condoms in Balti railway and bus stations and inform passengers about HIV/AIDS

More than 20 young volunteers from Balti are distributing free of charge information materials and condoms in the North Railway Station, South Railway Station and the Bus Station in Balti, before the departure of trains and buses on the most popular labor destinations for youth – Moscow, Sankt Petersburg, Voronezh and others. The action is part of a project implemented by the Centre for Information and Support to Young Economists “Certitudine” (“Confidence”), the first Moldovan organization to receive a grant from the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to a press release of the association, the awareness raising campaign is held under the slogan “Aware of HIV means always protected” and aims at preventing HIV infection cases. The project was launched with the organization of a training of trainers, bringing together 20 teenagers from 10 rural communities from the districts of Rascani, Sangerei, Drochia and Falesti. In turn, the 20 trainers held information seminars on HIV/AIDS in their own communities. Over 800 youngsters from Balti and neighboring villages have already benefited from these seminars. The project’s beneficiaries can create local discussion clubs, where they can screen movies on HIV/AIDS. Within the same project, 16 volunteers were recruited from the Alecu Russo State University in Balti and were trained to distribute information on HIV to the public. After this, an awareness raising campaign is being carried out in the railway and bus stations of Balti in order to inform youth that is going to work abroad about the HIV/AIDS risks and prevention methods, by distributing information materials and condoms to this target group. The project also includes a social entrepreneurship component, namely launching a commercial product on the market in order to collect money, that will be used for the continuation of the project. The product is to be launched in June. At the moment the implementers are dealing with the registration, procurement of equipment, obtaining necessary documents and other technical issues. The project is implemented in the period between January and December 2011 and aims at preventing the spreading of HIV among the young people from Balti and the northern region of Moldova.