On June 7-9 AFEW-Ukraine held the training “Conducting voluntary counselling and testing on HIV with rapid tests”.

The participants of the three-day training were psychologists, social workers, medical personnel and other employees of four social bureaus in Ukraine. Tetiana Aleksandrina and Olena Kislykh were the trainers of this event.

The aim of the training was to provide the participants with the knowledge and skills of the methodology of counselling related to HIV testing with rapid tests. During the three days of the training, many topics were discussed, but the trainers focused on such main issues:

• Overview of the HIV epidemic in the world and in Ukraine. Aetiology, epidemiology, diagnostics, ways of HIV transmission.
• Stigma and discrimination. The impact of stigma on the epidemic.
• Legal framework of HIV/AIDS. Key elements of ethical and effective HIV counselling practices.
• Pre- and post-test counselling.

Alina, social worker, Kharkiv: “The training was useful because we had a closer look at the regulatory framework in the field of HIV testing, namely in work with minors because this procedure always caused many questions. It was also useful to get information about personal and professional risks of HIV infection, what to do if such a situation happened – now everything is clear. A session of practical training in the development of pre- and post-test counselling skills has been a pleasure for me. The trainers showed what mistakes a counsellor can make during counselling and how to avoid them. The session on methodology and rapid testing with the help of ICT-tests was difficult for perception because there were a lot of medical terminologies, but the testing with multi-tests impressed. We were able to see the appearance of the results and evaluate its credibility – it was a cool experience.
The trainers are professionals, they paid attention to the participants and answered to all the questions“.

Training was held within the framework of the project “Bridging the Gaps: Health and Rights for Key Populations” with the financial support of Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.