The 12th edition of the competition for grants in the field of HIV/AIDS education and prevention is launched
Warsaw, 4 April 2022. As much as PLN 30,000 - this is the maximum grant amount in this year's competition Positively Open for the implementation of the best projects related to HIV/AIDS prevention and education. Non-governmental organisations, local authorities and public health care centres are invited to participate. The 12th edition of the competition will begin on 4 April and run until 30 June. The organiser and sole sponsor of Positively Open is Gilead Sciences Poland.
The jury is waiting for projects in the following categories:
- HIV and/or HCV prevention carried out in urban spaces and at mass events, supported by communication on the Internet with a particular focus on social media.
- Actions for the promotion of HIV and/or HCV testing aimed in particular at people living outside large urban areas and foreigners, taking into account opportunities such as self-testing or the use of HCV.
- Targeted educational activities to people with newly diagnosed HIV infection to encourage prompt contact with an infectious disease physician and immediate initiation of ARV therapy as a means of controlling the developing infection and as an effective form of prevention.
- Educating seropositive people on the use of telemedicine, both in the context of contacting infectious disease doctors and doctors of other specialities and obtaining psychological and legal support, etc.
- Support for foreigners living with HIV/AIDS and/or HCV residing in Poland and seeking information on this topic available in their mother tongue.
"Since 2011, nearly 120 projects promoting HIV knowledge and prevention have been implemented thanks to the Positively Open programme. Each year, the competition attracts key NGOs that have long been active in this area, but also organisations that have not yet specialised in HIV, as well as local governments. As a result, the projects carried out are diverse - from peer to peer education through campaigns in urban spaces and concerts to social media campaigns. Among the themes of the competition this year, tasks involving support for foreigners attract attention. This is important because there are more and more of them among us, and not all of them speak Polish," said project coordinator Paweł Mierzejewski.
The competition will be concluded in October and the award ceremony will take place during the World AIDS Day conference. Detailed information on the competition, including rules and application form, is available at http://pozytywnieotwarci.pl/.
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The aim of the Positively Open programme is to promote HIV prevention and knowledge about the possibilities of a normal life with the virus. Within the programme there is a competition for institutions which would like to run or already run programmes in the area of education and activation, as well as HIV/AIDS prevention and diagnostics. The partners of the Programme are the Mayor of the Capital City of Warsaw, the National AIDS Centre, the National Institute of Public Health PZH - National Research Institute, "Służba Zdrowia", Termedia publishing house and the company Gilead Sciences, which in the last eleven years has allocated more than 2 million zlotys for grants allowing the implementation of competition projects.
For further information, please contact:
Mariola Sarnowska
Positively Open Organisation Office
tel: +48 502 213 047