This activity was deemed to be a fun but a creative way of strengthening knowledge on HIV-related issues.
Raising awareness on HIV to the population continues to be a top priority for the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs.
With this in mind to amplify the HIV awareness efforts, the Ministry of Health has undertaken a creative and powerful strategy of collaborating with an artist, Arthur Allain to play a significant part in disseminating information about HIV and fostering dialogue among people in an effort to prevent the spread of HIV.
The Ministry of Health took the approach of hosting a “Winning with Awareness” HIV bingo competition which included the participation of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Tourism. This activity was deemed to be a fun but a creative way of strengthening knowledge on HIV-related issues.
Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) Coordinator Linda Berthier explained the simple but creative way they used the game to bring about meaningful learning and information about HIV. “Bingo is a game that people shout ‘bingo’ and they answer questions and everybody is happy and it is super easy to deal with. You just looking for what number and what letter is called but to make it creative in raising awareness, we have added our touch of HIV information in it. So the hint words come into play; in the beginning of the game we started asking questions, we gave information and when someone shouts ‘bingo’ their team gets a point but they get extra points if they answer the trivia questions which is questions relating to HIV prevention, treatment and management.”
Artist, Arthur Allain says he is pleased to collaborate with the Ministry of Health and to use his platform to share valuable information which will promote HIV prevention and treatment. “I think over the years, we’ve seen sort of a decline in information being brought out to the public, especially with regards to HIV. Growing up in school, it was always something that was prominent, always in your face but of late you see less of that but we know that HIV is very much around and present. It is something that we need to constantly educating the public about HIV, how it can be spread, prevention. It is important to know that things like Prep where you can have prevention of HIV where you get infected and there are a lot of things that people don’t necessarily know and you need more activities like this, social media promotion to really educate people and keep them informed about ways of reducing the spread of HIV.”
Nurse Linda Berthier also emphasized on the importance of raising awareness about HIV as it is the foundation of prevention and ensuring individuals get access to treatment and care. “It is super important to raise awareness for HIV; on trhe bus stop, in the security guards, the healthcare workers. I am hearing people still asking if HIV is still around. Nobody thinks that HIV is still around. It is lurking. It is no longer a death sentence so people get treatment to prevent it, to treat it, to manage it so people live long lives even though they are infected with HIV. However, we have young people, older people and senior adults still contracting HIV because we probably not using barrier methods, we not getting tested as often as we used to and we not speaking about it often to empower people to make the right choices with their lifestyles.”
The Ministry of Agriculture was crowned the champion of the “Winning with Awareness” HIV bingo competition. The Ministry of Health came in second and the Ministry of Tourism took third place.