SHILLONG: Banking on the popularity of motorsports amongst the youth, the Meghalaya AIDS Control Society (MACS) will take the opportunity to use the platform to generate a response from the youth to get themselves tested for HIV.
The Shillong Endurance Motorsports Challenge (SEMC) in collaboration with Meghalaya AIDS Control Society (MACS) will organise the third edition of Motorsports Challenge which will be held at Iew Shillong, Umtyngar from November 14-16.
Addressing the press on Tuesday, representative of SEMC, Vicky Kharkongor said the theme of this year’s challenge is “Get yourself tested, know your status”.
Representative of MACS, Alex Kharkongor said the event was set to generate awareness to the youth on HIV and to use the platform to attract the youth to get themselves tested at the ICTC mobile van stationed at the venue.
Alex said, “The youth are vulnerable to get infected by HIV and they are at a stage where they tend to take risks”.
He said that the youth could avail themselves of the facilities to check their HIV status and get necessary protection at the earliest if they are infected. He added that the results of the testing would be confidential. He also informed of a number 1097 toll free helpline for queries on HIV.
An activist, Barry Leslie Kharmalki said that it was not only about getting to know the status but to fight against stigma and discrimination and through advancement in medical science, it had made possible to reduce the risk of infection as well.
He informed that only 2 lakh population of people had come forward to get themselves tested out of 31 lakh.
Apart from the HIV testing, Bansara Eye Care will set up a free eye check-up camp at the venue.
