On Friday (15th July 2016) members of the ARC (Allied Rainbow Communities) committee, presented a donation of €2,432 to the Health Minister Dr Chris Fearne to start new services at the GU Clinic in Mater Dei.
The donation was used to fund:
a) Training of two medical staff in microscopy at St Mary's Hospital in London. Microscopy enables immediate on the spot detection of SAIs (Sexually Acquired Infections, formerly known as STIs), resulting in immediate treatment for clients and a reduction in further SAI transmissions.
b) The Specialised further training of a GU Clinic doctor on SAIs at the Bertinoro Hospital, in Italy.
c) The Attendance and Participation of Medical staff at the IUSTI (International Union Against Sexually Acquired Infections) Conference in Budapest later on this year.
Once the trained staff returned to Malta, they immediately setup the new services and trained and shared their newly acquired knowledge with their colleagues to start offering these services to the GU Clinic clients.
Although ARC works mainly within the LGTBIQ community, this project will benefit society as a whole as SAIs do not discriminate on gender, race or orientation. ARC presented it's study on LGBTIQ health issues in Malta to the Health Minister and discussed its findings and recommendations with the Health Promotion Department and Disease Prevention Directorate in a subsequent meeting.
ARC would like to thank it's benefactors for their support to make this donation possible.
Article in Maltese on Goverment DOI page: