The year 2022 is a record year for the number of newly diagnosed HIV cases in Poland. A red bow displayed on city streets ahead of World AIDS Day is a reminder of the epidemic.
Warsaw 17.11.2022. As many as 1910 - that's how many new HIV infections were reported in Poland by the end of October 2022. This is more than 6 people a day! Such alarming statistics have never been seen in Poland. In the whole of 2019, a record year so far, 1615 new HIV infections were reported. That's about the same number as this year up to September. The epidemic is not going away, although today, thanks to modern drugs, available in Poland free of charge, it is possible to live normally with HIV and have healthy children. However, it is necessary to get tested and receive treatment. The virus can affect anyone, so everyone should get tested. To remind people of this, the Polish Humanitarian Aid Foundation 'Res Humanae' and Gilead Sciences have organised a happening: a red bow with the inscription 'Together against HIV' is being displayed on the facades of houses in 5 Polish cities this year. Residents of the capital will see it on 22 and 30 November, on the eve of World AIDS Day. Posters encouraging people to get tested at Consultation and Diagnosis Centres have also appeared on the streets.
In addition to Warsaw, the bow reminds us of HIV this year in Krakow, Poznan, Gdansk and Gdynia. It is no coincidence that it appears precisely in the biggest cities. HIV is a metropolitan epidemic. It is there that seropositive people live most of all. This is one of the reasons why the international initiative Fast Track Cities involving cities in HIV prevention activities. In Poland, Warsaw was the first city to join this valuable initiative, with its mayor signing a membership declaration in early 2022. This has opened the way for other Polish cities that may soon also become Fast Track Cities.
"For the seventh consecutive year, the Polish Humanitarian Foundation 'Res Humanae' and Gilead Sciences are displaying a red bow on buildings in Polish cities to remind people that HIV is still dangerous. No one should take it lightly. Anyone with a history of so-called risky behaviour, simply sex without a condom, should get tested. Not only on the occasion of the European HIV Testing Week, which this year falls between 21 and 28 November, but all year round," said - said Mateusz Liwski, president of 'Res Humanae'.
"An infected person can play sports, work and have a fulfilling sex life. With regular medication, the level of the virus drops so much that a person living with HIV cannot infect anyone," - said Grzegorz Jezierski, coordinator of the project, which has been running since 2020 Buddy Poland, winner of the Positively Open competition. - "There are three elements that are most important: firstly diagnosis, or testing, secondly treatment, and thirdly the courage to live without fear. Our volunteers remind people who have recently found out they are infected of this: 11 people active in the Buddy Poland. They support those frightened by the diagnosis and explain that this virus can only be a chronic disease if treated."
"HIV is not a sentence, but it can still become one if an infected person does not undergo treatment. We can effectively fight the epidemic if we raise awareness of it in society. This is why before World AIDS Day, together with the 'Res Humanae' Foundation, we display red HIV bows on the streets of Polish cities, this is why metropolises all over the world join the initiative Fast Track CitiesThis is why the volunteers of the Social AIDS Committee help their newly diagnosed colleagues. If we act together, we will defeat HIV and stop the dangerous upward wave that this epidemic has been on in Poland for several years," concluded Paweł Mierzejewski of Gilead Sciences, coordinator of the Positively Open programme.