On 28 November British Council Kazakhstan organised a round table, followed by a videoconference with the UK to mark the 1st December – World AIDS Day.
The aim of the event was to raise awareness about HIV, discuss the stigmatization and discrimination against people living with HIV in Kazakhstan and globally and share experience via videoconference with UK expert Angela Costetsos from the Terrence Higgins Trust, the leading and largest HIV and sexual health charity in the UK, together with young people associated with the Trust.
First of all young volunteers from the Youth Volunteer Leadership Centre “Dostar” located in the southern city of Shymkent, students from Almaty, representatives of the Republican AIDS centre, a number of NGOs and Chevron participated in the round table, hosted in the British Council office in Almaty. They shared their experience and discussed how stigmatization and discrimination against HIV positive people affect society.
The highlight of the event was the videoconference discussion which followed, between the round table group in Almaty and the UK expert together with the young people from the Terrence Higgins Trust.
The participants from Kazakhstan were inspired during the videoconference by the UK speakers who shared their experience, saying how useful and lively the discussion was. The participants gave very positive feedback, explaining that the problems and challenges were similar and it was very valuable and interesting to know about the HIV situation in the UK. They were also impressed by what the Terrence Higgins Trust does to overcome challenges and change peoples’ attitudes towards HIV positive people.
“I was impressed by the organisation when I visited the Terrence Higgins Trust website. It was more impressive and exciting for me to see and communicate directly with people representing the organisation who implement great and useful activities to raise people’s awareness and challenge prejudice and discrimination,” said Nursultan Altynbek, a participant from Shymkent.
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