UNODC Iran Supports the Red Ribbon Winner NGO's Activities on World AIDS Day 2014
Red Ribbion poster
Every year, UNODC Iran commemorates the World AIDS Day (WAD) through organizing activities with the purpose of raising public awareness and reducing stigma and discrimination against people who are living with HIV/AIDS. This year, Ehyaye Hayate Sarmad, the Iranian Non-Governmental Organization which had won the 2014 Red Ribbon Award, was selected to implement a cluster of activities in two prisons in Mashhad, namely Chenaran Occupational Camp and the Central Prison of Mashhad, which is the second largest and highly populated prison in Iran. 
An awareness-raising poster: It is not a crime to have HIV
With UNODC's support, the activities were implemented over the duration of one week from the end of November to early December 2014, and included a vast variety of trainings, sports competitions, a painting competition, and entertainment activities for women and men inmates and their families, prison personnel, and prison soldiers and guards. Some specific activities and services were also designed for HIV-positive inmates of both prisons. Awareness-raising material in the form of banners, posters, leaflets, pamphlets and brochures were developed for all activities, and were all tailor-made for the respective target groups.
One of the trainings offered for inmates
One of the unique characteristics of the WAD 2014 activities in prisons was the inclusion of the families of inmates in awareness-raising activities. The families of inmates who visited the prisons during the implementation of activities were provided with awareness-raising materials, Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) services, and brief trainings on HIV/AIDS prevention. The materials which were distributed for families of inmates also included packs of condoms with special design and brief messages for distribution in the conjugal rooms of the prisons.
By providing support for the implementation of these activities, and considering their vast coverage, UNODC Iran has succeeded in addressing a huge number of audiences from various target groups in the prisons of Mashhad.
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