The SALUS Foundation

The SALUS FOUNDATION is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) dealing with the problems of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV\AIDS prevention in Western Ukraine.

SALUS Foundation was established in Lviv in January 1996. The activities of the Foundation cover the area of Western Ukraine, which has a population of close to 10,000,000 people. From 1996 to1998, six departments of the Foundation were opened in five cities of Western Ukraine - Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, Ujgorod and Lutsk.

The foundation's staff is experienced in STDs/AIDS prevention. The staff members have trained in some European and American STD clinics and STD Centres (The Mortimer Market Centre and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases in London, Hopital Saint-Lois and Institute A.Furnier in Paris, Howard Brown Centre in Chicago.)

PRESIDENT
Olexandra Sluzhynska MD, PhD, gynecologist, director of the Medical Diagnostic Centre ASTAR, regional representative of Ukraine in the European Information Centre YOUTH & AIDS.

GOALS
STD and HIV\AIDS prevention
implementation of new technologies in diagnostics of HIV and STDs
implementation of new therapeutic methods in the treatment of STDs and their complications

SALUS Foundation activities:

1.CENTRE OF SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES

With the support of the SALUS Foundation and financial assistance from the Open Society Institute, the first Ukrainian Centre for Sexually Transmitted Diseases was established in Lviv in December 1996. It is now operating successfully.

2.RAPE CRISIS CENTRE

With the support of the SALUS Foundation and financial assistance from the International Renaissance Foundation, the Rape Crisis Centre was established in Lviv in December 1996.

3.B-HEPATITIS COMPETENCE CENTRE

The Centre was organised thanks to SmithKlain Bicham company. It provides hepatitis-B vaccinations.

4.RESPECT YOURSELF, PROTECT YOURSELF

Thanks to the support of the Commete Catolique contre la Faim et pour le Developpement, SALUS Foundation developed the information project, consisting of 8 booklets: HIV, Trichomona, Gonorrhea, Herpes, Papillomavirus, Chlamydia, Candida, and Syphilis.

5.ART AGAINST AIDS

Thanks to joint efforts of the SALUS FOUNDATION, ART CLUB DZYGA and Scientific Medical Diagnostic Centre ASTAR, the 5-years programme ART AGAINST AIDS was established. The programme began with the competition of non-professional works - posters, emblems and announcements for radio directed against AIDS and STDs. The winning works have been used in a poster campaign on the theme of STDs and HIV prevention. Information about ACTION - 97 ART AGAINST AIDS and exhibition of the best works can be found at: http://www.uar.net.1997/art/aids/works_ukr.html In Nowember-December 1998 the programme was continued by ACTION-98 with the sculpture competition YOUTH AGAINST AIDS.

6.ART OF HEALTH

Action ART OF HEALTH was in celebration of International Health Day (April, the 7). It was prepared by SALUS Foundation with the help of the British Council, the French Cultural Centre, the Ukrainian-Austrian Library and the International Renaissance Foundation. The Action contained round tables and discussions about STDs and AIDS and films about leading a healthy lifestyle.

7.CENTRE OF THE LEGAL PROTECTION FOR SEXUAL MINORITIES HIV-POSITIVES AND SEX-WORKERS

The programme was supported by USAID (COUNTERPART ALLIANCE FOUNDATION). The work began in late spring with establishment of the Information Centre on the problems of STDs and AIDS prevention. Four leaflets STOP AIDS - for gays, lesbians, sex-workers and HIV positives- have been edited and distributed among youth.

8.BULLETIN SALUS

The bulletin SALUS is edited by the SALUS Foundation once every three months. It was published in September and in December 1998.

9.UKRAINIAN DEPARTMENT OF THE EIC " AIDS & YOUTH"

The regional Ukrainian department of the European Information Centre (EIC) AIDS & YOUTH has been created in Lviv thanks to cooperation with the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ukraine and (EIC) AIDS & YOUTH from the Netherlands. On the eve of World AIDS Day the sculpture competition YOUTH AGAINST AIDS has been organised.

10.SEXUAL EDUCATION FOR YOUTH

The programme of Youth Sexual Education was prepared thanks to the help of the HealthProm. It oversees the training of teachers, physicians and midwifes by experienced trainers from the UK. It will start in spring-summer 1999.

PHOENIX

The Foundation's staff have organised the programme PHOENIX, which consists of 30 projects to enable the development and extension of the Foundation's activities. The SALUS Foundation is looking for possibilities of partnership between Lviv's STD Centre and Rape Crisis Centre and similar centres in European countries and the USA. Possible projects include:

• Implementation of the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) diagnostic: for creation of the 1st West Ukrainian Reference STDs\HIV Laboratory
  
• Night Girls - prevention of STDs and AIDS among sex-workers in the area of the Ukrainian-Polish border
  
• Implementation of new methods of treating STDs and their complications
  
• Establishment of the Regional Youth Education Centre
  
• Creation of a Women's Reproductive Health Centre in Lviv
  
• Establishment of a Network of STD Centres in eight cities in Western Ukraine (Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsik, Chernivtsi, Lutsk, Rivne, Uzhorod, Ternopil, Chmelnitsky)
  
• STDs and HIV/AIDS prevention provision for prisoners and IV drug-users
  
• Provision of seminars and training for genitourinary medical staff and health advisors of the STD Centres of Western Ukraine
  
• Organisation of a peer-education network among secondary and high school students in Lviv and training for groups of students about HIV/AIDS (who will then be responsible for passing this information to their peers)
  
• Establishment of the SCULPTURE GARDEN 'ART AGAINST AIDS'
  
• Establishment of a pharmaceutic service PROTYSTOYANNIA (RESISTANCE) to provide STDs/HIV sufferers with medicines
  
• Establishment and publication of a regional bulletin for medical professionals dealing with the problems of STDs and HIV/AIDS
  
• Establishment of STDs\HIV telephone helplines in the 8 cities of Western Ukraine
  

Last updated:    May 1999

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