Aids, in Bergamo street art against HIV

From 10 to 14 June the center of Bergamo will host a performing art initiative to fight the stigma towards those living with HIV and to promote the alliance between all the actors involved in the fight against the AIDS virus. Alessandro Conti, aka Etsom, a street artist from Bergamo, will create a mural 6 meters wide and 3 meters high to raise awareness on the problems that persist in the field of HIV: submerged, prejudice, quality of life. Representing the theme of the collaboration will be the ‘&’ symbol, an evolution of the famous red ribbon, a sign of closeness to the anti-HIV battle, which inspired Etsom’s work. The work will be inaugurated on June 14 at 12 by the councilor for social policies of the Municipality of Bergamo, Marcella Messina, and will remain on display in viale Papa Giovanni XXIII-largo Porta Nuova until June 16, to then be donated to the city. For the entire duration of the event, information materials will be distributed at the mural and visitors will be invited to spread the initiative on social networks with the hashtag #InsiemecontroHIV. The project is promoted by Gilead Sciences and sponsored by the Municipality of Bergamo, by the Icar Congress (Italian Conference on Aids and Antiviral Research) scheduled in the Orobic city from 14 to 16 June, by the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Simit) and by 14 non-profit associations involved in the HIV front: Ala Milano Onlus, Anlaids Onlus, Arcigay-Italian Lgbt Association, Arcobaleno Aids, Asa-Association solidarity Aids Onlus, Provincial Committee ‘Antinoo’ Arcigay Onlus, Villa Maraini Onlus Foundation, Lila Milano Onlus, Mario Mieli-Circle of homosexual culture, Milan Checkpoint, Nadir Onlus, Nps Italia Onlus, Plus-HIV-positive LGBT + People, Don Giuseppe Monticelli social cooperative society. “Since March 2019 – underlines Messina – Bergamo has joined the Fast Track City network, a global network of cities focused on achieving the objectives contained in the Paris Declaration of July 2017, in particular that of 90-90-90 (90% of all cases of HIV are diagnosed; 90% of HIV-positive people have access to antiretroviral therapies; 90% of the people treated achieve the suppression of the viral load) and that of the reduction of the stigma to zero. The Administration’s commitment is to promote the maximum dissemination of the culture of prevention through unconventional places, such as the Check Point in via Moroni 93 which has made it possible to expand the offer of tests to citizenship in the city center, or to support initiatives like this one which, through artistic language, will make it possible to raise awareness among citizens and dialogue above all with younger ones, to whom we turn our utmost attention to the issues of health culture “. In Bergamo and its province – Gilead reports in a note – yes today estimate 3,225 people with HIV. Of these, 87.9% have received the diagnosis of the infection and are in active follow-up; 100% of those treated receive antiretroviral therapy and 98.5% have an Viremia suppressed. These data confirm for the city the achievement of the 95-95-95 target set by the WHO for 2030, the principle according to which 95% of all cases of HIV must be diagnosed, 95% of people living with HIV must have access to antiretroviral therapy and 95% of those treated must have viral load suppression. Mission: to end the HIV epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. “In Bergamo we have seen a slight and steady decline in new infections in recent years, but the problem is not solved and infections remain in all segments of the population – warns Franco Maggiolo, head of the simple unit of HIV-related diseases and experimental therapies of Asst Papa Giovanni XXIII and president of the Bergamo edition of Icar – In addition, about a third of diagnoses occur a few years after the infection. an important share of people carrying the virus who do not know they have it (the so-called submerged) and who, without their knowledge, facilitate the spread of the virus.This is why it is very important to spread the culture of testing and encourage the approach to testing in different contexts. The test, together with early therapy, are the cornerstones of the concept of ‘U = U’ (Undetectable = Untrasmittable, ed.) Unfortunately, young people are also less aware and protect themselves from the less also because current therapies have made it possible to make the infection chronic, and therefore have changed the sensitivity towards risk, as well as reducing the media impact “. The therapies available today – highlights Gilead – make it possible to reduce the amount of virus in the body so as to make it not only no longer detectable, but also non-transmissible according to the equation U = U, allowing people with HIV to have a good quality of life, like the rest of the population. If decades of scientific innovation have transformed HIV from a once fatal disease to a chronic disease, which can be well controlled and prevented, the possibility of defeating the virus for a future without HIV today does not only arise from therapies, but also from the collaboration of all the actors involved: institutions, the third sector, civil society and industry. “Talking about HIV / Aids – remarked Paolo Meli, pedagogist of the Emmaus Community Association of Chiuduno (Bergamo) – does not simply mean preventing, but also fighting the stigma that was and remains one of the biggest problems. Our city has been active since the nineties and our association has always been at the forefront. Over the years many things have changed, but unfortunately the stigma is still too widespread. that we must work, all together “. Hence the new initiative, which will see the volunteers of Bergamo Fast Track City available to citizens to provide information on the various initiatives, on the Bergamo Check Point and to distribute information material. In the space occupied by the mural, the works of the #cHIVuoleconoscere project will also be exhibited, created by secondary school students of the Municipality of Bergamo as part of the Emmaus Community awareness project to tell the fight against HIV in an artistic key. “Gilead will continue to do research for increasingly effective and safe drugs, as it has been in the last 35 years – says Cristina Le Grazie, Medical Director of Gilead Sciences – We know, however, that to put an end to the history of HIV we must act together with all those who they are engaged in our own battle. By collaborating together we want to promote prevention and information, fight prejudice and stigma, contribute to improving the quality of life of people with HIV. Only together can we look to a future without HIV. For everyone, everywhere ” . A key point, that of collaboration, also protagonist of Icar Bergamo, right from the title: ‘Alliance to leave no one behind’, indicating the desire to strengthen the alliance between all the scientific, clinical, social and associational components that in various ways they are committed to the fight against HIV / AIDS, and to work on the territory to reach the most fragile and exposed populations.Telling HIV through the language of art has always been a characteristic of Gilead Italia, recalls the company . This story has become a real gallery of digital works of art entitled ‘Together we can stop the virus’, the first on HIV, visible in augmented reality. To create it, from 2019 to 2021 Gilead stimulated the collaboration of illustrators, street artists, digital professionals and major Italian patient associations, with the aim of bringing out the stories of those living with the virus through their works. On the occasion of the Bergamo congress, Gilead will donate the 11 works of the exhibition to the city Check Point, which will be open and visible free of charge from 14 June at the Check Point headquarters in via Moroni 93, and for the entire duration of Icar.