Well, it’s finally happening. I’m gonna brag to you about helping the children (or in this case, the health care workers).

A few months ago, my counterpart and I discussed the possibility of conducting some sort of training around World AIDS Day (1 December). What started as a round (EARTHQUAKE JUST HIT WHILE I WAS TYPING THIS BRB OK THINGS ARE FINE) table slash panel discussion morphed over the course of several plans and months into a half-day HIV/AIDS Stigma Reduction training funded with PEPFAR money.

For those of you who haven’t heard of PEPFAR, it stands for the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, and I would argue is the single greatest thing that George W. Bush did during his presidency. PEPFAR has probably been the biggest force (among many amazing and meaningful forces) that has had a positive impact on HIV and AIDS research and relief efforts in Africa and worldwide. I was really lucky to get even just a small sliver of funding to pay for a space, a coffee break, and photocopying packets for my participants.

Anyway, we had 32 health promotion unit staff, local council members, youth committee members, and heads of youth centres attend, including participants from as far away as 5-6 hours drive. I was blown away by the attendance – the rural areas had 100% of invitees come to the training. We had speakers including the temporary director of the Southern Republican Centre for Health Promotion (basically, the person in charge of all health education in southern Kyrgyzstan), and the director of the Osh AIDS Centre. My colleagues are still talking about how impressed they were with the trainer and speakers.

Beep beep. Can you hear that? That’s the sound of my own horn being tooted. Passive voice deliberate. And it shall be continued.

Anyway, after some opening remarks from people, the trainer from the Osh AIDS Centre gave a session about HIV. She was great, detailed, and prompted lively discussion from participants, particularly our guests from the villages, where there is limited access to information. After the coffee break, she continued with a session on stigma and discrimination. After that, my NGO partners gave short talks on key populations and how stigma impacts them, and we ended the day with a panel discussion with several recovered injecting drug users (one of the key populations that is impacted by HIV in this part of the world).

Nearly every participant showed improvement in their knowledge and attitudes towards people with HIV, which is important, because improving knowledge and attitudes about HIV can have a big impact on helping reduce transmission and improve treatment outcomes. When there is strong stigma, people at risk of HIV can feel afraid to get tested or treated, and so they often won’t get tested and treated, which naturally can cause them to unintentionally or unknowingly transmit the virus to others. This issue is one that faces every country in the world, including the United States, by the way, so we’ve also got to work on this issue there. With HIV, it’s not about how we got to where we are today; it’s about how we take what we have, the proverbial lemons, and what we choose to do with it. And these people are now more informed and prepared to share what they learned with those around them. I’m so very proud of this, because it is definitely my biggest accomplishment thus far in my service.

And, as it turns out, it’s just a stepping stone. Many participants, including my own colleagues, are coming forward to me now with ideas for how I can help them develop their professional capacity. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’ve also got a lot of people motivated now to make a difference in their communities! I’m very lucky that I can help them get there.