Impressive first quarter for
Talk [RED] campaign
PHILIPSBURG--The Island Government’s HIV/AIDS Programme Management Team (PMT) expects the St. Maarten community to be much more sensitised about HIV/AIDS by the end of 2008 following an impressive first quarter marked by victories with the Talk [RED] awareness campaign, the team announced Monday.
Plans are already in place for several more HIV/AIDS-inspired activities for the remaining nine months of the year as the first part of a four-year campaign to reduce the stigma and help combat the disease’s spread on the island continues, PMT Head Suzette Moses-Burton told reporters during an update on Talk [RED] progress since January.
In the three months since the PMT launched Talk [RED], an information drive intended to spur discussion about the global AIDS epidemic and its implications for St. Maarten, the team has held more than two dozen “sensitization sessions” and the business sector has adopted months to Talk [RED] with their customers.
The PMT has recorded nearly 500 persons taking the twice-weekly sessions, and dozens more being given information from trained staff at three [RED] companies so far, Moses-Burton said.
Talk [RED] is a multi-pronged information and awareness campaign that has been buffeting the community since its launch with information about the transmission of HIV/AIDS and ways to reduce the risk of spreading the disease.
Various businesses have signed on to “adopt” a month to have their workers discuss HIV/AIDS with clients each Friday. The media campaign also includes radio jingles and an impressive poster design that remind the community to “Be Aware: AIDS is out there.”
“The idea is for the jingles to appeal to different target audiences,” Moses-Burton said.
Talk [RED] has drawn unexpected support from the community and businesses have volunteered their assistance in the year-long campaign to make talking about the deadly disease easier. The next three years are set to include campaigns to promote staying safe and reducing the stigma and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-infected persons in the community.
Teen Times youth newspaper and Couture magazine Managing Director photographer Nicole Pieters are among the groups and individuals in the community that have joined the campaign. Fashion designer Kaisha Pieters (Kai Designs) also inspired PMT’s July 5 [RED] fashion show and silent auction to benefit awareness initiatives.
Moses-Burton noted that one [RED] company had not yet signed its letter of intent with government, but that the PMT was working to have this prepared ahead of December, the month this business had to Talk [RED]. Other “challenges” for the team include “increasing involvement of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Sector” and “keeping up with the newly created and increasing demand for education sessions.”
She said the sessions could go up to as many as four each week to meet demand.
The campaign is expected to maintain its growth as 2008 continues, with the support of businesses, the community and the newly-aware residents who “are finding it easier to Talk [RED],” Moses-Burton said.
