On Friday, February 8, the organization Vallarta Enfrenta el SIDA, A.C. (Vallarta Confronts AIDS, or VES for it’s Spanish acronym), together with Centro Ambulatorio para la Prevención y Atención de SIDA e Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual (CAPASITS), COMUSIDA, Secretaría de Salud Jalisco y Laboratorio de Patología Clínica Vallarta, presented a Health Fair in the Main Plaza of El Pitillal. Beginning at 9:00 AM and continuing until 4:00 PM, experts and volunteers working in HIV/AIDS, provided information and confidential counseling on HIV, along with free rapid HIV testing. In addition, healthcare professionals from other medical specialties provided free information and testing for cholesterol, blood type, vaccinations for children, diabetes, nutrition, women’s health and prevention of dengue.

The event attracted many interested residents, particularly in the afternoon from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, when lines were forming to receive information, confidential counseling and testing from staff and volunteers of Vallarta Enfrenta el SIDA, A.C. VES Director, Paco Arjona, noted that, “Based on the numbers of people seeking information on HIV and other health related issues, we plan to do more of these events, particularly in areas outside of downtown Puerto Vallarta. It is in the smaller towns that there seems to be less information and less access to HIV testing and counseling services, and it is our mission to make sure everyone in the Bay of Banderas region is educated about HIV, aware of their HIV status, and that they know the basic strategies for reducing their vulnerability to HIV infection. If that means we have to take the message to them, wherever they live, that is what we will do.”

For more information about HIV, testing, counseling, and risk reduction, please visit www.vallartaenfrentasida.org or call the offices at 322-223-0535.