ASG Workshops Spurs Volunteer Testing

September 3, 2003

How do we know ASG is making an impact? It's when we see that our workshop participants are volunteering to undergo testing. Responding to the need, the African Salvation Group invited AMO Congo to have a Medical Technician to be available to take blood samples at the close of some of our workshops.

Scores of participants in our HIV/AIDS, STD, TB, and Malaria prevention education workshops have volunteered to take the HIV test. Our professional counselors help them make this difficult decision. As always, each participant must go through a pre-test counseling session with follow-up counseling while they are waiting for the result.

The African Salvation Group would like to be able to offer the quicker test system which produces a result in 20 minutes, but our resources do not allow for this currently. Still, we are aiming to get more than 200 people tested for HIV and many more for STD and TB by the end of next year. Our collaboration with AMO Congo has resulted in an average of 40 % of workshop's participants volunteering to HIV test so we are well underway to achieve this goal.