DPD and COPRESIDA Sign Agreements to Strengthen Prevention of HIV-AIDS and STDs

DPD and COPRESIDA Sign Agreements to Strengthen Prevention of HIV-AIDS and STDs
The Office of the Dominican First Lady (DPD) and the Presidential Council on AIDS (COPRESIDA) signed a Collaboration Agreement to mutually strengthen prevention measures for HIV-AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) through the Centers for Technological Development (CTC).

“The social mobilization processes associated with the National Front for the Response against HIV/AIDS need new coordination efforts on all levels and a broad sense of willingness to come up with new prevention strategies,”

The agreement was signed by the First Lady of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Margarita Cedeño de Fernández and the Executive Director of COPRESIDA, Dr. Gustavo Rojas Lara.

Both institutions, as agreed in the signed document, commit to carry out actions to promote the Strengthening Program of the National Front for the Response against HIV/AIDS, while promoting the prevention of STDs, HIV and AIDS through the 62 CTC radio stations located in remote communities throughout the country.

Doctors Cedeño de Fernández and Rojas Lara said these actions are a response to the need to find new forms of carrying the prevention message to the communities.

“The social mobilization processes associated with the National Front for the Response against HIV/AIDS need new coordination efforts on all levels and a broad sense of willingness to come up with new prevention strategies,” they concurred.

The institutions, according to what they explained, will seek to put the issues of HIV, AIDS and STDs on the agenda of the communities along with ideas for orientation. “One of the components of the Program of the CTCs are their radio stations which play an essential role in the dissemination of messages and educational programs for the communities where they are located and listened to,” they added.

As a result of this agreement, the Office of the First Lady has committed to put the 62 CTC radio station that operate around the country at the disposition of COPRESIDA to be used for educational programming and as a platform for the preparation, taping and editing of educational material.

The DPD will also offer facilities for the presentation of educational programs directed at communities who are receiving these radio signals.

Among the responsibilities assumed by COPRESIDA with the signing of this agreement includes training members of the Community Technology Centers and the CTC radio stations to convert them into facilitators of the educational process they will be providing through these centers.

The CTC radios connected to the First Lady’s Office cover an area with a population of more than 500,000 people who live in communities of extreme poverty.

The First Lady has a deep interest in putting information technology and communication at the service of developing the communities, while emphasizing the promotion of healthy behavior through nutrition and healthy eating habits and food. In addition, each of the CTCs are developing training programs in technology and education so that citizens are better educated, better informed and more connected to the rest of the world.

Doctor Margarita Cedeño de Fernández is a member of the Coalition of First Ladies and Women Leaders of Latin America on Women and AIDS, which was created at the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS), whose goal is to reduce the vulnerability in this sector in the face of the epidemic.