Again, a huge thanks for the great support from Gilead Sciences, Inc., which allowed the Foundation’s Deputy Director of Programmes, Mr. Johnny Li, to join an exchange and sharing tour, co-organised by the Taiwan Lourdes Association, in San Francisco, United States recently.
20 professionals from Taiwan, Beijing, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan participated in the tour. Johnny and the counterparts from various Asian countries acted as the “visiting scholars” and stopped by various organisations and government departments, including the San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Glide Foundation, San Francisco Community Health Center, St. James Infirmary, Mission Neighborhood Health Center and Instituto Familiar de Ia Raza during their stay.
Johnny has gained a great deal of knowledge about the current epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in the United States, especially HIV prevention education for ethnic minorities and sexual minorities. Besides this, he also learned a great deal of insights not only regarding PrEP’s current strategies for Latino Americans but also through his close observation, he witnessed how the local government supported the street sleepers, sex workers and Asian transgender people. “It was my pleasure to share our unique work experiences of the Hong Kong AIDS Foundation in the context of HIV prevention with counterparts too,” said Johnny Li about this trip.
“My own Q&A sessions lasted quite long as the majority of the tour peers showed a strong interest in the actual programmes and work conducted by us. I am glad that the Foundation’s name could finally go beyond Hong Kong! We should definitely join more overseas tours to show what Hong Kong frontline workers are currently working on in the area of HIV prevention. We should have more say.”
More photos of him and his counterparts will be shared on our Facebook page and IG, so stay tuned!
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