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World AIDS Day

HIV and AIDs awareness and prevention programme in Phuket

ribbon-imageWorld AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day and the first one was held in 1988.

In Phuket the Phuket Loves You Club (PLU) is promoting a program called HARP promoting HIV awareness and prevention. Bon Tong Productions has been working with PLU to support their campaign, read more in the PLU press release below.

HARP – HIV and Aids Related Programme

After 3 successful years of organizing Phuket Pride, and raising over 600,000 for HIV related Charities the Phuket Loves You Club is launching its next major initiative, HARP – HIV and Aids Related Programme. The objective of the programme is to increase awareness of HIV / AIDS and Safer Sex, provide free testing and information and to provide free condoms and lubricant to stop the spread of HIV / AIDS within the gay area in Patong.

With the help of Patong Hospital and the Sabaidee Clinic, PLU Club held a series of focus groups designed to gather information from various groups of people within the LGBT community of Phuket. This information has been invaluable in helping set the strategy and objectives for the HARP Project,

At present, Sabaidee clinic only has funding to carry out one free HIV test a year in Soi Paradise. The PLU Club have committed money, from its HARP budget, to the clinic to carry out a further 3 tests, which means all workers in Paradise can now have a free HIV test every 3 months for the next year starting in October.

Partnering with the Director of Patong Hospital, they have secured a memorandum of understanding (MOU) from Phuket’s Governor – Maitree Intrusud. This MOU will enable them to receive a large number of condoms from outside of Thailand and have already received 50,000 Carex condoms and lube from Karex Burhad; a Thai company. The PLU are packaging these into individual packs, which also carry safe sex messaging in Thai, as well as contact details for the Sabaidee Clinic.

With the information gathered from a series of focus groups, the PLU have utilized the services of Bon Tong Productions in Chiang Mai, together they have created a series of 6 informative posters which message safe sex, testing and what to do if you test positive. These posters will form an 8 month campaign. Bon Tong have not only been sponsoring and designing the PLU Club’s Phuket Pride web site for the past three years, but have a wealth of experience in the creative designing of this style of posters.

Safer Sex – Healthy Choices

The first two posters in English

HARP-Safer Sex - Healthy ChoicesHARP Healthy Choices use a condom to prevent HIV transmission

To accompany the posters the PLU Club have had produced custom-made condom boxes, these have a changeable header, so that the messaging with the free condoms mirrors that of the changing messaging of the monthly posters. . These boxes will contain the FREE condoms and lubrication packs and will be placed in gay friendly locations throughout Patong, ensuring that cost is not a barrier to Safer Sex.

The Chairman of the PLU Community project Team Kenneth Miller said “I am delighted that after so much planning and information gathering, that we have finally been able to deliver to the Gay venues of Patong meaningful posters and free condoms and lube. These venues have been so supportive in the prominence they have given to the posters and condom boxes, with a real commitment to all working together in increasing HIV awareness and reducing HIV infection in our community”

Ian Phillips the PLU Chairman said” I would like to thank everyone who has supported our last three Phuket Pride weeks, those who worked tirelessly to organise the week’s events, those who attended and donated and to all of our highly valued sponsors, including Karex Burhad, without whom none of what we are now delivering to our community would be possible. I look forward to us all raising more money for these important projects during Phuket Pride week 2015 this coming April”

Safer Sex – Healthy Choices

The first two posters in Thai that have been distributed to gay bars and venues in Phuket.

HARP Healt  Choices for HIV - IN ThaiHARP use a condom   Thai

For information on how to get involved in the PLU and Phuket Pride as a volunteer or sponsor, please email: info@phuket-pride.com.

For up-to-date information about PLU activities and view our Pride 2014 photo gallery visit our web site: www.phuket-pride.org

Gay Website Designers - Bon Tong Production Logo

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