HIV/AIDS in RussiaThe HIV/AIDS epidemic is increasingly threatening young people and combating the virus is now a high priority.
Fighting the Stigma Prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child (PMTCT) Protection, care and support
Oleg Gazmanov: I care for every child This booklet (PDF, 2.4 MB; in Russian) helps to raise awareness about children affected by HIV/AIDS.
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 'I care about every child' campaign
I care about every child. And what about you? In the Russian Federation:
Thanks to the achievements of contemporary medicine, HIV-positive children have every chance to live a long, full and happy life. The only thing that prevents them from fully developing their potential is us, adults. In accordance with Russian laws, the right of HIV-positive people to education can not be restricted in any way. Nevertheless, even for perfectly healthy young children born to HIV-positive parents, not to mention HIV-positive children, it is next to impossible to be admitted to mainstream kindergartens and schools. Both parents and school teachers fear the physical presence of such children, as they do not possess any reliable information about the HIV-infection. Campaign In October 2006, UNICEF together with the Foundation for Social Development and Health Care “Focus-Media” launched a massive information campaign “I care about every child. And what about you?” with the participation of a Russian celebrity and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Oleg Gazmanov. The campaign is supported by: Campaign activities A special booklet was designed to inform the public about the HIV infection and its ways of transmission and the reasons why HIV-positive children do not pose any hazard to their peers when they attend the same school or a kindergarten. Summary information was provided on postcards, posters and billboards. To promote the campaign’s message, a TV spot and a radio spot were produced featuring Oleg Gazmanov, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Some 40 million TV viewers have seen the TV spot on TV channels Stolitsa, TV Centre, ORT, DTV and TV-3. Besides, the TV spot was shown on regional TV channels. All in all, the TV spot was broadcast about 1,500 times on various TV channels. Moreover, this TV spot was shown on large promotional screens, and the information about the campaign became known to:
The campaign’s radio spot was broadcast through the radio stations Radio 7 and LOVE –Radio. The magazine for parents Bringing Up a Child, the information site 7Я. RU and the Internet web-portal The Year of Charity in Russia have become sponsors for the campaign. In its December 2006 issue, the journal Schoolchildren’s Health published an article about the campaign entitled 'I care about every child'. Some 400,000 Russian residents were able to familiarize themselves with printed materials (booklets, posters and postcards) about the campaign. In 2006-2007, in the above-mentioned cities and regions, the campaign posters, booklets and postcards were distributed through local schools, children’s polyclinics, libraries, bookshops, drugstores, stationery shops, cinemas and cafes. The campaign booklets were also made available for passengers of the airline “Orenburg Airlines”. The priority focus was placed on the cities and regions with the highest concentration of HIV-positive adults and children, namely, the Chelyabinsk and Orenburg regions, St. Petersburg and Moscow, where some 9,000 or 25% of all children born in Russia to HIV-positive parents live. In Moscow, the campaign 'I care about every child' was supported by the Moscow House of Books, Russia’s biggest retail network of book stores. Every day starting mid-August till late September 2007, about 70,000 people visiting its 38 book shops were offered an opportunity to see the campagne TV-spot and posters. Free booklets, postcards and bookmarks bearing the campaign key message were made available for customers at all of its stores. Book shops in other cities and regions joined the initiative undertaken by the Moscow House of Books. E.g., in Chelyabinsk, the opportunity to distribute free booklets and cards was provided by the city’s biggest bookstore hypermarket “Las-Knigas” and other stores. The city’s residents could also see the campaign posters displayed at exhibitions of public service announcements and thematic exhibitions focusing on socio-political issues. In September-October 2007, main streets in Orenburg and Chelyabinsk were decorated with campaign billboards. In addition to the information campaign in the Chelyabinsk and Orenburg regions, more than 1,500 primary school teachers and pre-school were trained in 2007 in HIV-related issues, which enabled to them to overcome their negative attitude towards HIV-positive children and prepared them for the integration of such children into mainstream schools and pre-school facilities. Results In 2004, 55% of respondents, participating in a survey carried out in Moscow by the Foundation for Social Development and Health Care Focus-Media, said that they would send their child to a different school or a pre-school facility if they learned that an HIV-positive child attended the same school or pre-school facility as their child did. The same year Focus-Media together with UNICEF launched their first campaign of solidarity with people living with HIV, focusing particularly on women and children. When evaluating the campaign results in 2005, it was established that the number of respondents who declared that they would remove their child from a school or a pre-school facility attended by an HIV-infected child had decreased from 55% down to 47%. In 2006, the second phase of the campaign of solidarity with children living with HIV was launched. According to the preliminary estimates, the number of respondents who are against their children being in the same classroom with their HIV-positive peers has gone down to 44%. The process involving individuals’ attitude and behavior change, particularly when it concerns well-established stereotypes and fears, requires prolonged and intensive advocacy efforts. UNICEF is determined to continue its activities, so that children living with HIV can go to regular schools, communicate with their peers and live a full and fruitful life.
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y building better referral systems between prenatal and maternity facilities, AIDS centres and social services. Over 200 social workers and volunteers, including women living with HIV, have been trained to work with HIV-affected families and in peer-support groups.
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