On May 18th, 2016 the UNESCO IITE participated in one of the key events of the All-Russian campaign "STOP HIV/AIDS" held inthe People’s Friendship University of Russia (PFUR).
The campaign is run at Russian universities on May 10 to 20 by the Foundation for Social and Cultural Initiatives led by Svetlana Medvedeva to mark the International AIDS Memorial Day (annually commemorated on the third Sunday in May). The campaign was supported by the Russian Ministry of Health, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, the Russian Rectors Union, the Union of Students’ Media, the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) and other ministries.
The event in the PFUR began with a conference "The global spread of HIV and modern trends in fighting against AIDS" which was opened by the PFUR’s Rector, Academician Vladimir M. Filippov. The students had a chance to listen to the distinguished guests: Academician Vadim V. Pokrovskiy, the Head of the Federal AIDS Center, Sergey A. Smirnov, the Vice-chair of the Foundation for Social and Cultural Initiatives, Tigran A. Yepoyan, UNESCO Regional HIV & AIDS Adviser, Roman E. Gaylevich, UNAIDS Regional Advisor, etc.
The conference concluded with a performance of PFUR’s famous graduates and postgraduates: a popular singer Pier Narciss, the Golos TV show participant Mary Nzhipuakuyu and the front men of PFUR’s vocal bands Bris Fuako and Artur Korreya.
The event culminated with a flash mob "PFUR’s students are for life without HIV". Hundreds of white balloons were released into the sky to commemorate those who lost their lives to AIDS.