Young people learn how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS

“All young people must know how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS” says Carolina Cartofeanu, a 12th grade student at the Ioan Voda high-school, Cahul. This opinion is also shared by Victoria Mocanu, from theoretical high-school Mihai Eminescu, who believes that by being well informed about ways in which HIV/AIDS can be transmitted, young people could make decisions which would not affect their health, life and future”. Both adolescents graduated from the summer school of educators for HIV/AIDS prevention, which ended on Wednesday, August 15, at Holercani. The instruction course for educators lasted for 5 days. In this period, 150 teenagers and 10 adults from Cahul and Criuleni districts were informed about the threats of HIV/AIDS, ways of transmission of the virus and protection methods. More important, they learned how to pass on this message to their peers in a language understandable by all young people. The Holercani Summer School forms part of the 10 schools organised in July-August by the National Centre of Resources for youth in collaboration with UNICEF, UNFPA and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. More than 1300 educators on an equal basis from 6 districts: Soroca, Falesti, Ungheni, Basarabeasca, Criuleni, Cahul and the Posta Veche district in Chisinau, instructed in summer schools, will educate other youngsters about HIV/AIDS using friendly terminology for all youth. “With the help of these instructed teenagers, we hope to change the rate of young people informed about HIV/AIDS from 8% to 80%” says Larisa Lazarescu-Spetetchi, UNICEF coordinator of the HIV/AIDS and vulnerable teenagers programme. The next summer school will begin its activity on Thursday, August 17, in Soroca, where more than 140 educators on an equal basis will be instructed in the HIV/AIDS domain.