May 16, 2022

10:05

Priscilla Peixoto – From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – “Everyday we fight, we build public health policies and we help as we can the population that is in vulnerability in the State of Amazonas”, the statement is from the president of the Amazonas Harm Reduction Association (Ardam), Evalcilene Santos. The association has as one of its main purposes to focus on the politics of harm reduction for alcohol and drug abuse and to decrease the rate of sexually transmitted infections (STI), in Manaus, by means of informative material.

“Ardam comes with this mission to inform people about this harm reduction policy, which is to reduce the damage caused by addictions, in addition, we extend the actions to the part of sexual infections, because, due to the use of drugs addicts end up not paying attention to the prevention care, which worsens their situation, most of them, in street situation”, he explains.

Non-profit Association

According to the president, the project has been running since 2005 and has lost count of how many people have been assisted by the actions developed. The non-governmental initiative has a shy team, with an average of eight people, including professionals such as psychologists, social workers, and other volunteers. As it is a non-profit organization, the project does not have a fixed headquarters yet, and currently operates in two temporary units.

“We don’t have a fixed headquarters, although our work is already old, we have provisional headquarters in the neighborhood of Flores and in the premises of the Tropical Medicine Foundation, in the provisional room of the NGO AIDS Forum, located at Avenida Pedro Teixeira, s/n – Dom Pedro, and we are fighting for our physical space”, reveals the president reinforcing the lack of financial support for the institution.

“We don’t have a bank account, we use our bills to pay the expenses. We don’t receive financial support; what we do receive is help with supplies. We don’t have a bank account, we use our own bills to pay for the expenses”, affirms the president.

Actions

According to Evalcilene, besides the work of educational information and care to the homeless population, the association is active in forums and meetings related to health and public policies. It works together with movements focused on women with HIV and supports activities linked to trans movements.

“Besides going to the street population, whether indigenous, LGBTQIA+, people who use alcohol and other drugs, and even communities that are also in a vulnerable situation to do all this educational and preventive work, we also support movements focused on human rights and citizenship, especially with regard to the transgender and transvestite population”.

“All help is welcome”

For those who want to help or know more about the project and the actions developed, the president of Ardam advises those interested to send an e-mail to [email protected] or contact by phone/whats: (092) 99143-6139.

“We are in the streets almost every day, in the political and health debates, and we want to build a policy that better serves the vulnerable population in the state of Amazonas”, she concludes.