On the World AIDS Day marked on December 1, 2015, four teams of vulnerable populations and representatives of AIDS-service NGOs will meet in a football match on “El Classico” football field in Bishkek. The match is organized as a symbolic event to show support for people living with HIV, commemorate those who died of the disease and unite our efforts to stop the HIV epidemic. The match is supported by USAID as part of its HIV React Project.

The project is also organizing a workshop on developing efficient HIV-prevention strategies for former prisoners. Participants are ex-prisoners that cooperate with AIDS-service NGOs and work closely with former inmates to continue to receive HIV and other medical services after they get out of prisons. Inmates are among the top vulnerable groups for HIV. The workshops will take place on December 16-17, 2015, in “Dostuk” hotel in Bishkek.

On December 18, 2015, as part of the World AIDS Day prison facility #31 will mark the fifth anniversary of its Social Rehabilitation and Adaptation Center. The center was established with support of international organizations and remains one of the leading institutions that help prisoners fight HIV and change their dangerous behavior. On this day, prisoners will talk about ways to protect themselves from HIV to their families and other guests invited to the event. Former prisoners who live successful, healthy and sober life after release will share their stories with the peers.

There are 11 closed prison facilities in the country with more than 5,000 prisoners. The vast majority of them will be eventually returning to the society. Prisoners and former prisoners represent extremely vulnerable population and have a lot of social, legal, medical problems. Moreover, HIV spread among them is disproportionately high. According to the 2013 study, the prevalence of the disease among prisoners remains at 7.6%, while the prevalence of the disease among those who are in prison for the second time or more it’s 7 times higher compared to those who are sentenced for the first time.

The USAID-funded HIV React Project works to prevent new HIV cases in the detention and plans to provide a series of awareness-raising events dedicated to the World AIDS Day in order to draw public attention to the problem. The project works in nine largest prison facilities of the country and has reached more than 3000 prisoners with HIV-preventative interventions in the first year of its implementation.

The World AIDS Day is marked on 1 December each year to remind of the need to stop the global spread of HIV/AIDS and demonstrate solidarity with people around the world affected by the epidemic. The first World AIDS Day was marked in 1988, which became the first ever global health day.