In 2005 the association realized an audio-visual product entitled “You must use condom always! – Usa sempre il preservativo!”, addressed to migrant sex workers – particularly the ones coming from Nigeria and Eastern Europe – and focused on the prevention of AIDS infection and sexual transmitted diseases. The project consists of two videos, in order to reach as many migrant sex workers as possible. Both of them give very important and useful informations on how to use condom correctly, on the HIV test and on how to avail oneself of the public healthcare facilities. The videos describe some particular moments in the ordinary day of two girlfriends and include some parts spoken by doctors, who give explanations about the issue addressed in that moment. The videos end with a scene showing the two girls in a day hospital where the cultural mediator informs them that everyone in Italy can avail themself of health care, even if they do not have a regular resideny permit.
The two videos have been directed by Mauro Brondi and have been produced by the Association Ideadonna Onlus with the funding of Regione Piemonte, the Province of Turin, ASL3 Torino and Piemonte Anlaids. The scientific supervision has been given by Ivano Dal Conte and Anna Lucchini of the MST (Malattie Sessualmente Trasmissibili – Sexual Transmitted Diseases) clinic of the Amedeo di Savoia Hospital in Turin.
The videos are available in two different formats, VHS and DVD.
The VHS format has been produced in two different languages on two different videotapes:
• english and pidgin english version, for african women (You must use condom always);
• italian version, for women coming from Eastern Europe (Usa sempre il preservativo).
The DVD format includes the same two language versions and also the possibility of having subtitles:
• in italian or english, for the english and pidgin english version (You must use condom always);
• in albanian, romanian or russian, for the italian version (Usa sempre il preservativo).
The videotapes have been free distributed in the MST clinics of Asl 3 in Turin and in some shops located in those neighborhoods where most of the women addressed in the videos live or go (eg. Porta Palazzo, San Salvario).
The DVDs have been free distributed in many clinics and day hospitals, private or public institutions, and other associations or organizations interested and/or involved in similar projects. Ninehundred copies of the DVD have been re-released at the beginning of 2006.
The project was presented in press conference on October 6th, 2005, at ASL 3 in Turin, and was presented to the public the following days at Hiroshima Mon Amour (October 7th) and Soundtown (October 8th).
The videos have also been presented at COMPA within the workshop “Communication and prevention in healthcare” in Bologna on November 4th, 2005.
You must condom always has been also presented at the annual meeting of the National Focal Point on AIDS held at the National Health Institute in Rome on September 21st 2006. Ideadonna was later invited to take part in the Final Conference of Aids & Mobility “Bridging Policy and Action” , held in Utrecht (Netherlands) on September 25th-26th 2006.