Promoting voluntary counselling and testing in the cross-border regions of Senegal
31 October 2006
In May 2006, Kédougou Encadrement Orientation (KEO) – a partner organisation of Alliance Nationale Contre le Sida (ANCS), the Alliance’s linking organisation in Senegal – launched an ongoing voluntary counselling and testing campaign that aims to make local populations in Senegal aware of the importance of HIV testing, as an entry point for providing care and support to those with HIV.
Messages to inform the campaign’s target communities come under the slogan “HIV/AIDS is transmissable, and testing allows me to know my serological status”.
The campaign also aims to advocate for access to voluntary counselling and testing in the cross-border regions. KEO is based in Kédougou, in the Tambacounda region, which is in the south-east of Senegal, near the border with Guinea.
The picture above is an example of one of the campaign’s posters/leaflets, which translated from French reads:
Today HIV/AIDS is a real threat to the young people living in this area; the best response would be for everyone to take responsibility for their own behaviour.
- Have you ever had unprotected sex?
- Have you heard of mother-to-child transmission?
- Have you ever been hurt by a sharp object?
These are the three main ways in which HIV is contracted.
Testing enables us to:
- know our serological status and no longer be in doubt
- have trustworthy information on HIV and AIDS and evaluate the risks of HIV infection
- benefit from advice in order to be able to adopt more responsible and lower risk behaviour
- better plan our life and future
- know our negative status and preserve it or live positively with HIV
- protect our partner
- reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission
- protect our community
- benefit from comprehensive and early care and support if HIV positive
- be an ambassador of action on AIDS
An invitation is extended to all young people in Senegal to be responsible and to take a voluntary and anonymous HIV test.
