TALKING ABOUT AIDS

DEBATE AND INFORMATION ON THE STREETS, IN THE SQUARES, ON THE NETWORKS

Abstract

The extension project "Talking about AIDS: debate and information in the streets, squares and networks" is an offshoot of actions and research developed by the Group for Research and Studies in Health, Society and Culture (GRUPESSC/UFPB) since 2007, which showed the urgency of broadening the debate on the subject of HIV/AIDS beyond the academic and specialized professional field. Our aim is to promote actions that go beyond the walls of the university, occupying spaces for debate and promoting the dissemination of information that addresses the subjective, social, cultural and political dimensions of preventing, living with and coping with HIV/AIDS, from the perspective of Human Rights, with a special focus on Sexual and Reproductive Rights. Since the first version of the project (2020-2021), we have developed our actions through an interdisciplinary team made up of undergraduate and postgraduate students, teachers and researchers from the anthropological field, as well as other areas such as pedagogy, psychology, law, history, literature and sociology. Responding to the Covid-19 health emergency, we began our work virtually, opening an Instagram profile with various pictures, lives and periodic publications. With the return of face-to-face activities, we began to carry out activities on the streets, in squares, in schools, health services, among other settings, at the end of 2021. Virtual or face-to-face, we talk about AIDS at the Federal University of Paraíba, but we echo beyond it through partnerships with local, municipal, state and national networks for the development and participation in actions aimed at deconstructing the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS and providing qualified information on preventing, living and living with HIV/AIDS