Sofia, November 17–24, 2017
In the period between November 17 and 24 BFPA was one of the 15 Bulgarian organizations who took part in the European HIV and Hepatitis testing week. The campaign was held for a fifth consecutive year, BFPA being part of it from the very beginning, as for the last three years Hepatitis B and C testing is included in the testing options. The aim is to increase the number of informed individuals about the dangers of infection as well as encourage them to find out their HIV and Hepatitis status. The campaign is pan-European, 679 organizations from the whole of Europe and Israel signed up for participation, as a certain part of them are multinational. The organizations from Bulgaria, who took place in the campaign, focus on prevention of HIV infection, prevention of prevalence of Hepatitis B and C and also organizations who focus on prevention of STI as a whole.
At BFPA’s VCT medical centre 28 people were tested anonymously for HIV and Hepatitis during the campaign period – November 17 - 24. This year BFPA added a new service for the campaign – syphilis testing, taken by 17 clients. 28 people were tested for HIV, as almost half of them were under the age of 25. 18 were tested for Hepatitis B, 17 for Hepatitis C, and again almost half were young people under 25. Since a large part of BFPA activities are focused on young people, we at the association consider the European HIV and Hepatitis testing week a success.
