Together for Life!
27 February 2007
More than 4,000 people gathered at Ukraine’s first regional 'Together for Life!' forum in a successful show of joint working on HIV, tuberculosis and drug use from non-governmental organisations and Odessa local authorities.
The forum drew crowds on the eve of World AIDS Day to talk about health care priorities and strategies for responding to HIV. Their discussions were broadcast live by the Odessa regional teleradio company.
Non-governmental organisations knew that achieving a strong response to HIV would depend on the active support of local government in Odessa, a region with one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the country.
So Alliance Ukraine’s regional co-ordinator in Odessa, Tetyana Afanasiadi, got together with non-governmental organisations and Odessa Regional Coordination Council on Prevention of Spread of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Drug Abuse to organise the meeting, financed by the Odessa regional administration.
The Governor of Odessa, Ivan Plachkov, and Serhiy Fedorov, head of a large HIV non-governmental organisation Zhyttya+ (Life+), told the Odessa residents, local officials, teachers and representatives of law enforcement bodies present that non-governmental organisations, local communities, businesses and the authorities needed to work together to tackle HIV, tuberculosis and drug use.
Similar events are planned for later this year in all districts of the Odessa region aimed at motivating local coordination councils, departments and administrations to respond to HIV, tuberculosis and drug use. Mobile groups created from members of the region's coordination councils, together with the intersectoral working group, will also strengthen the regional response.
