Only 6% of young people in Romania have ever been tested for HIV. 90% have never received recommendations from a doctor to undergo such an examination. “Centre HIV” is the first HIV testing program launched yesterday in Romania.

“HIV Centers” is the first program in Romania for HIV testing, which centralizes 468 institutions from 11 counties of Romania that offer free and paid HIV testing.

The application provides details such as the facility’s location, hours of operation, cost of the test, as well as details required for HIV testing, testing methods for persons under 16 years of age and conditions for providing pre-test and post-test counseling.

The 11 counties were selected based on university centers with medical universities that are FASMR member associations, medical students from these centers will promote the use of HIV testing in teaching units, where they will conduct HIV prevention training sessions. The development of the program began with the need to prevent the HIV virus through regular testing in Romania and the significant number of new HIV cases among young people that are registered every year.

The lack of sexual and reproductive health education in schools, as well as the need for access to accurate and complete information about sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, were other important factors that led to the creation of this web-based program.

In Romania, there is no phone application that contains useful data from the territory, including marginalized areas, related to hospitals/HIV testing centers, HIV testing is the only method of detecting infection.

Semper Musica carried out a national consultation of young people on their access to sexual and reproductive health education 1, where young people indicated that they get information about sexual and reproductive health mainly from the Internet (84%), and second – from friends (43%). However, the majority (89%) would prefer to receive information on this topic at school. Only 12% claim that they received such information at school.

The consultation took place in 2022 and used a convenience sample of young people who wanted to respond. 17,513 young people aged 15 to 35 from all over the country answered the questionnaire.

• The consultation showed that only 6% of respondents had ever taken an HIV test.

• 90% have never received recommendations from a doctor to undergo such an examination.

• If we look at another process of counseling young people from rural areas, which is carried out within the framework of the project, we will notice that they generally have information about human rights in general and the rights to sexual and reproductive health in particular.

• As for human rights, the main source of information for rural youth is school (69% of respondents), followed by the Internet (44%).

• The right to health was noted by only 8% of young people who took part in the consultation, and the right to vote by 5% of respondents. This aspect highlights aspects of health as a value and its internalization.

• To obtain information about sexual and reproductive health, 86% of respondents use the Internet, and 36% use their friends as a source of information.

• Only 32% of young people say they get information about sexual and reproductive health from their parents. The surveyed young people claim that they would prefer to receive information on sexual health topics from their family (53%) and from a doctor (41%).

• Family doctors and school doctors are rarely sources of information about sexual and reproductive health for the young people interviewed. Thus, with regard to information about HIV/AIDS, only 10% of the surveyed young people noted that they talked to family doctors, and 5% received information on this topic from doctors in school offices.

• The most correct way to determine the risks of unprotected sex.

• Most young people remember an unwanted pregnancy (91% of respondents). Sexually transmitted infections are called a risk by only 86% of respondents. Worryingly, 21% of respondents who say they are aware of the risks associated with unprotected sex would choose to face those risks.

• However, information about the sexual and reproductive health of young people is incomplete.

“2022 has been declared the year of youth. One of the pillars of the Youth Action Plan in EU external action is empowering young people and giving them all the tools they need to thrive. Tools for ensuring well-being and health are also our responsibility, as they need to be created and made accessible to young people,” says Bohdan Istrate, project manager of the Semper Musica Association.

The project “Services from Norway for young people from Romania-PILOT” is carried out by Semper Musica Association in partnership with FASMR – Federation of Medical Student Associations from Romania and Sex & Society Norway, with the financial support of Active Citizens Fund Romania, a program funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through EEA grants for 2014-2021.

The project aims to expand access to the pilot program to 6,250 students and young people aged 15-35 from 24 rural areas that are underserved by the World Bank, as well as to an additional 17,500 at-risk students from 11 countries. , based on the Norwegian model, free reproductive health education, distribution of free condoms and the first mobile application for HIV testing in Romania, addressed to youth from 11 districts.

950 pilot classes on reproductive health and 44 meetings with local government representatives in 11 districts will be held to disseminate the results of the actions.