Knowledge about HIV saves lives: Ukrainian stars of sports, show business and fashion told about their own experience of testing for HIV

On December 1, World HIV Day, the largest patient organization BO «100% Life« launched the educational campaign "Knowledge about HIV saves lives". Starting today, videos featuring clothing designer Ivan Frolov, TV presenter Elena Kravets, Onuka group leader Nata Zhizhchenko, Olympic champion Zhan Beleniuk and blogger Oleg Mashukovskiy will be shown on social networks, television, and streaming platforms.

The goal of the project "Knowledge about HIV saves life" is to draw the attention of Ukrainians to the importance of regular HIV testing, the use of pre-contact prevention and reminding that this is a chronic disease with which you can have a full life: give birth to healthy children, love, build a career, and the like. The only condition for a full life is regular medication.

«More than twenty years ago, I started taking ARV therapy. Today I live, I have a family, I manage the largest patient organization precisely thanks to medicines. A lot has changed in twenty years: today, HIV is a manageable chronic disease that does not limit you in your pursuit of your goals. The only limitation is ignorance. When you don't know about the disease, you let it rule your life.Therefore, this project is a reminder that even in the conditions of a full-scale war, we have the opportunity to take care of our own health and the health of our loved ones", — Dmitry Sherembey, chairman of the "100% Life" BO.

The heroes of the videos talked about the experience of testing for HIV, their feelings about the awareness of Ukrainians in this topic, and urged them to worry about their health.

Ivan Frolov said that education and regular testing are the main tools in the fight against and protection against the virus.

"I am constantly tested for HIV, because it is not only a question of my health.Importantly, it also says that HIV is not a sentence, you can live a normal life with it, if you detect it in time and take medication«.

He also noted that the topic of HIV is becoming more relevant and acute because of the war. People often come into contact with the blood of others at the front, during rescue work, etc. and the risk of infection with various diseases increases, including HIV. That is why it is so important to know your HIV status and, if necessary, take medication.

Elena Kravets shared in the comment that she did the last HIV test when she was pregnant with twins.

«Unfortunately, I'm not the type of person who regularly takes an HIV test, but I understand that it's important to do it. This project makes me think about the importance of regular testing, because it concerns not only my safety, but also the safety of loved ones.I hope it will make our audience think«.

When asked what she would do if someone close to her was diagnosed with HIV and whether she was afraid of the virus, Elena answered that HIV is not as scary as we often think. You just need to pull yourself together and delve into the research of options for maintaining health.

Natalya Zhizhchenko, the soloist of the Onuka group, said that despite the public awareness of HIV and the availability of information in the mass media, modern people do not have a complete and correct understanding of the virus. The majority still perceive HIV-positive status as a sentence. She also shared her HIV testing experience:

«Once upon a time, I was a donor and, according to the procedure, donated blood for HIV testing. I can say that it was an unpleasant experience. While I was waiting for the test results, I almost lost consciousness because of the atmosphere in the hospital. I received a negative result, however, I still remember the entire procedure, although approximately 15 years have passed since then. I hope that the situation with testing and the approach to people who donate blood has changed now.Because I often observe that medicine develops faster than our understanding of the disease«.

The project was implemented by video maker and director Yury Dvyzhon in partnership with the patient organization BO "100% Life". In addition to the one-minute videos, Yuri presented the director's version of the interview video, in which the stars share candid stories from their lives on the topic of HIV.

«I feel a social responsibility as a director and a person who can communicate with a huge audience through my work. I want Ukraine to be a progressive and tolerant country, despite all the events. This year, I realized that in addition to the LGBT topic in my videos, the topic of HIV is also interesting to me.The impetus for this was conversations about the virus with friends and relatives, who, unfortunately, are not all well-versed in the basic questions of this topic«, commented Yury participated in the project "Knowledge about HIV saves life".

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This year, World AIDS Day is being celebrated for the 35th time in a row. Established 1 December 1988 year on the initiative World Health Organization, World AIDS Day should draw attention societies on this problem.

Ukraine occupies one of the first places among the countries of the European region in terms of the number of HIV-positive people. At the same time, on the eve of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, our country demonstrated extraordinary progress in the fight against the epidemic. However, every third HIV-positive person either did not know his HIV status, or remained outside medical supervision and, accordingly, did not receive treatment (ARV therapy).

We emphasize that today, despite the challenges of wartime, HIV testing and treatment, prevention and services are available in Ukraine. Everything about HIV link.

After the start of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine, there was a risk of a catastrophic shortage of drugs for HIV patients. At the urgent request of the Center for Public Health and the largest patient organization of 100% Life, the PEPFAR program invested 13 million dollars for the emergency purchase of medicines. Now international partners PEPFAR, USAID and the Global Fund have already agreed on funding for the purchase of medicines for the next two years.

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Reference: BO "100% Life" is the largest patient organization that has been helping people with HIV for more than 20 years and works in every region of Ukraine. You can find the nearest testing point or order an oral HIV test by mail at prozdorovia.in.ua