Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day, and every year the local Manitoba Harm Reduction Network(MHRN) puts on an event to better educate everyone in our community about how to keep yourself, others, and our community safer.
“(Our event is) coming up on Dec. 3, and it’s going to be a lunch and learn from noon until 1 p.m. with both in person and virtual options at the Selkirk Friendship Centre,” said Tristan Dreilich, MHRN Senior Network Coordinator, Selkirk.
This day is an opportunity to talk about the current state of HIV transmission as well as raise awareness, share information, and combat the stigma surrounding HIV.
“HIV, unfortunately, continues to be an issue in Manitoba. Rates are rising, and we are looking very concretely at how do we start turning that tide around. The topic we’re exploring, on the 3rd is, we have really good testing, and we have really good medical treatment for HIV— medicines that will actually reduce the virus in a person’s system, if they have HIV, to a level where they can’t transmit it or they aren’t experiencing symptoms — but yet, rates continue to rise,” said Dreilich.
At this event on Dec. 3, they plan to talk about the tough stuff, like why rates are rising, ways to better connect to people who might be more likely to be affected by it, and how to connect people to treatment.
Like pretty much everything that the MHRN does, it involves building connections, trust, and engaging local residents to find solutions that work for us.
If you would like to learn more about this event, or ask questions about attendance options, you can connection with Dreilich by email at tristan@mhrn.ca.
National Substance Use Awareness Week was also last week, and the MHRN brought awareness by showcasing a film that was shot in Selkirk called Imagining Safety Selkirk. If you would like to watch the film to see all the people working to make our community safer and learn some of the steps that our community needs to take to become a safer place for everyone, you can check it out at www.youtube.com.
