• 2 months ago
Ve el episodio completo en: https://www.wearenotzombies.com/canales/podcasts/somos-uno/inspira-cambio-

A.D.A.M, CAFÉ REGINA y HIGH HEALING presentan SOMOS UNO con INSPIRA CAMBIO A.C. ESTRENO MIÉRCOLES 23 DE OCTUBRE | 8 PM

El tema del VIH en materia de salud ha tenido una mejora significativa en años recientes. Cada vez más la ciencia y la tecnología posibilitan que la emergencia epidemiológica reduzca sus números y que el contagio se controle. Sin embargo, la desinformación y la discriminación son elementos con los que se continúa lidiando.Aarón Rojas, director de la asociación civil Inspira, considera que el acompañamiento es crucial para atender a la población. A través de la oferta de diferentes servicios enfocados en las personas –salud mental, pruebas médicas de infecciones sexuales, atención médica, consejería en torno al consumo de sustancias, servicio de vacunación–, Inspira se concentra en la sexualidad y en cómo se ejerce, para dar herramientas que proporcionen el mayor cuidado posible. En este episodio conocemos sobre el trabajo de esta organización que por once años ha puesto interés en capacitar y sensibilizar a su equipo de trabajo para alcanzar un impacto en la reducción de la epidemia del VIH en México.

Somos Uno es el podcast de We Are Not Zombies que da espacio a proyectos de impacto y bienestar social que, con su trabajo, se suman a las acciones humanas que mejoran el mundo. Conducido por Paco Ayala, fundador de Huerto Roma Verde.

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Transcript
00:00Presented by Academia Diosdado de Artes Marciales Mixtas, Café Regina, and High Healing.
00:08We Are Not Zombies presents
00:16A podcast of humans that seeks to make projects of environmental impact visible.
00:25Welcome to Somos Uno with Paco Ayala.
00:30Hello, how are you? I'm Paco Ayala here at Somos Uno, podcast of We Are Not Zombies.
00:36Very happy to be in this dialogue, to share with Aron from Inspira.
00:43Well, Aron, first of all, what a pleasure to be able to meet in person,
00:50to be able to sit down and talk about a topic that is extremely important, interesting,
00:56and crucial these days, especially for the youth who are just with many questions
01:04on a topic that should be more disseminated.
01:08I remember when the HIV and AIDS broke out in the 1980s,
01:15which was already obviously emerging, as they say, at the end of the 1800s,
01:22at the beginning of the 20th century, but that really explodes, let's say, in the 1980s.
01:29And obviously that was also the result of a series of prejudices that began to be given
01:37throughout and everywhere about, you know, these conservative reactionary powers
01:44that began to say that this was a consequence of sexual decadence,
01:51that they blamed the gay community, especially men, mainly homosexuals.
01:58And well, it was a topic that began to violate many rights.
02:05I would be interested to know, because in the 1980s I was much younger,
02:13and well, it was a very sound topic, right?
02:18But you, who have more or less ten years of founding INSPIRA,
02:24this association that you are leading to address these issues in different ranges
02:31that we are going to talk about, but first tell us what motivated the emergence of INSPIRA.
02:39There have been many coincidences.
02:44In fact, we just turned 11 years old, and by the way, thank you for the invitation,
02:49and a pleasure to meet you.
02:52Eleven years ago, I am a lawyer in the administration, and I was looking for a job,
02:57and you know, the classic thing, you need experience, and then it was very complex
03:02how to find a job in my area, and I managed to enter as a homosexual promoter
03:08in a civil organization, it was an international organization,
03:11and I said, well, this is going to be like a step to acquire experience,
03:16but I liked it, I was very interested in the subject,
03:22and I was developing skills that I did not know I could do, right?
03:28There we started to create very close relationships of friendship
03:32between different people who were part of the organization.
03:36This was an international organization, and it had a work approach
03:40to a certain extent conservative, right?
03:43There were many issues that could not be discussed,
03:46despite the fact that a large part of the team considered that we would have to go
03:53knocking down taboos, knocking down stigma, but the guidelines did not allow it, right?
04:01That organization closes in the year 2011, but a very interesting thing that it did,
04:07it was an international revision, it was to the whole team,
04:13because it had a presence in different states of the country,
04:15and then they raise, I find it very interesting the reflection on what we are going to do
04:20with seven years of work, right?
04:23To have a presence in different states of the country,
04:26to have made relationships with health institutions,
04:29and with a staff, with a staff team throughout the country, right?
04:35So it raises the possibility that the same staff, we group up and we are interested,
04:44and that the organization, what it does as a closing thing,
04:49is support to institutionalize the projects, right?
04:53And give them the legal formality,
04:55which today is still a barrier for many collectives, right?
04:59Being able to take that step from being a collective to being legally constituted,
05:03and having all the requirements in legal fiscal matter, according to our country.
05:11And when I thought about that possibility, several people from the Mexico City headquarters,
05:17it was, I raise my hand, I raise my hand, I am interested in how many we are,
05:22and then from 2012 the story began, a very interesting technical accompaniment,
05:30because from that emergence of the organization,
05:37a very interesting process of professionalization was coming, right?
05:41That I can translate into,
05:44that it is one of the reasons why the organization has been around for 11 years, right?
05:48That's how Inspira came about,
05:51when we chose the name, we were in a meeting with a consultant,
05:58and we were like, what comes to mind when you think about the subject of VIH, right?
06:04What kind of work do you do?
06:06It's like all the rain of ideas and everything, one of them was like inspiration, right?
06:11And when he made us a proposal and everything, it was like, ah, well, Inspira.
06:15Yes, yes, I like it.
06:17And that's how it stayed, as the name, that's how the organization came about 11 years ago,
06:22on February 15 we just turned 11 years old,
06:26and many of the people who at that time, at that time, organized it,
06:30crossed the subject of VIH, right?
06:33I am a homosexual man, I am 44 years old this year,
06:37I grew up with the idea that my destiny was to die of VIH.
06:40So, I mean, still today and in therapy,
06:45it's very complicated, it's very complicated and it's to a certain extent painful,
06:49to realize how that idea impacted, right?
06:53That it is an idea that is socially normalized, right?
06:56Because I didn't read that I was going to die of VIH in a magazine or something,
07:00I mean, there were messages that reinforced that idea,
07:05and as I grew up and everything, the idea continued and continued.
07:09So, that, I have shared it with other colleagues,
07:14colleagues of the organization, and everyone has like a, let's say,
07:18a crossroads with the subject, right?
07:21I mean, where it touches you in relation to your life story.
07:26And that is, let's say, precisely the reason why,
07:29eleven years later, me and a few other people
07:32continue working in the organization, right?
07:35Despite the adversities of the context.
07:38Sure. Hey, and how many people do you inspire?
07:42Is it a team, a large team?
07:45How are they organized?
07:47I can tell you that for an organization in the current Mexican context,
07:53we have a considerable team.
07:56We are around 20 people.
07:58And those 20 people, we have a work structure
08:03with a communication area, a fund procurement area,
08:06an operations area, and an administrative area.
08:10So, the team is distributed.
08:12We try to make sure that anyone who comes in to work at Inspira
08:16goes through a training and awareness process
08:19that allows them to develop tools
08:24to be able to serve the population
08:27when they arrive in space and request some kind of support.
08:32If they want to do a test,
08:34we also receive people who have suffered sexual abuse
08:38and are afraid of getting HIV infected,
08:40and then they are in that shock situation,
08:43and what do I do, right?
08:45I could tell you a lot of very particular situations.
08:50So, we make sure that throughout the organization's structure,
08:56this is a transversal thing.
08:58Having awareness and skills to be able to serve.
09:02Even if you are in the accounting part,
09:05even if you are in charge of the billing part,
09:07we try to make sure that all the people
09:10are involved in the different services
09:15for direct care with people.
09:18Well, it's very interesting because,
09:20well, I also have a civil association,
09:24and I know how difficult it is to constitute yourself,
09:30to legalize yourself, especially now that the issues
09:34with civil associations have hardened.
09:36So, it's very interesting,
09:38this figure that you adopted,
09:40because it also generates,
09:42in terms of the benefits that you can constitute,
09:46it generates a greater possibility of action, right?
09:50Of course.
09:51In that sense, within the objectives that you have,
09:55the main ones, what are they?
09:57And also, what are the services?
09:59Because I know you have a large number of full-time services.
10:03The truth is, I loved it when I started to research
10:06a little more about you.
10:08Well, you are a space that fully addresses
10:13the specific issue that you are addressing, right?
10:18Let's say that the objective for which we constituted ourselves was
10:22how we can impact in eliminating,
10:26well, in reducing the HIV epidemic,
10:29eradicating the HIV epidemic in Mexico.
10:31And the first thing we started with was HIV, right?
10:34But we have a model of attention that is focused on the person.
10:39That is, there are many…
10:42It is very common that I go to a service to do a test,
10:46to the doctor, and far from being listened to,
10:49rather, they always tell me what I should do,
10:52that what I did was wrong, right?
10:55And we have the opposite model.
10:58That is, we ask…
11:00With just one question,
11:02what is the reason why you come to do a test?
11:04And we let the person, you know, flow, right?
11:07And tell us.
11:09That made us go from only HIV to other services, other services, other services.
11:14Because what we discovered is that
11:17to impact the prevention of HIV,
11:22what we have to do is consider an integral attention.
11:26That is, there is mental health,
11:28currently consumption of substances,
11:30sexuality.
11:32I mean, I think sexuality is one of the main reasons
11:35why many people continue to be infected with HIV,
11:39why the stigmas continue to be reinforced
11:42and there are still practices of discrimination.
11:45So, as a civil organization,
11:47we have been evolving.
11:49That is something that also characterizes us.
11:51We do not stay in the same place.
11:53We try to be innovating.
11:55And what we want to do is contribute
11:58to the full exercise of sexuality, right?
12:01Of people.
12:03Providing them with elements, right?
12:05And by elements I mean
12:08if in your exercise of sexuality you have a certain practice,
12:12then what strategies can you implement for your care, right?
12:17And in this way, we are also promoting the capacity of agency of people, right?
12:22Unlike a doctor who tells you,
12:24you do not have to do this, right?
12:26He gives you pure instructions,
12:28pure orders.
12:30Exactly.
12:31And here, rather, we open a dialogue
12:33and it is according to what I am hearing,
12:36look, these are the options you have to seek your care.
12:40So, we started with HIV
12:43and now let's say that the goal has expanded
12:45to a full exercise of sexuality,
12:47providing these tools
12:49so that people can manage their sexual exercise
12:53and implement care measures.
12:56Now, I would like you to tell us a little more about each of the services,
13:01but before that,
13:05I would like to know the state, the government, right?
13:09Because it seems that it is a topic that,
13:13being so stigmatized,
13:15maybe it is not so correctly addressed by the public sector.
13:21So, how has been your relationship with the public institutions on this topic?
13:27Yes, throughout our history,
13:30we have always been open to dialogue,
13:33we have tried to approach institutions
13:36to be able to increase the impact of our work
13:40and I can say that we have had, to a certain extent, a good response.
13:46Obviously, the needs of a civil organization are many,
13:53but we have also focused on certain aspects
13:58and I think we have managed to have a good synergy with some institutions,
14:03not in general,
14:05and in terms of funds, I would say that
14:10not having funds from the state
14:13really allows you, as an NGO, to exercise your social project with complete freedom.
14:20Sure, independence.
14:22Exactly.
14:23Because when there were funds, I felt like,
14:26you know, like we had a hand tied,
14:29we talked about certain issues, about the way,
14:32because one of the characteristics of INSPIRA is how we say things,
14:35how we speak them,
14:37and that is what makes the community feel very identified with INSPIRA,
14:41because we can talk about terms without reservations,
14:47sex without condoms, drug use,
14:51and that is not allowed by many institutions when they provide you with funds.
14:58So, the capacity for action in these collaborations with institutions is very limited,
15:06but the point is not to give up and continue,
15:12I mean, being there, making a presence,
15:15and looking for new mechanisms to be able to intervene.
15:19Sure, and let's see, because something that I found very interesting is
15:25how you address the issue of sexual dissidence, right?
15:28I mean, I imagine that for heterosexuals,
15:33maybe getting close to you also costs a little more work,
15:38or also that audience attends, is attended,
15:43or it costs them more work to get close to you.
15:46How is that issue?
15:49Well, I wanted to start a little by talking about dissidence,
15:53because many times we talk about,
15:56we are doing work with sexual dissidence,
15:59but the reality is that the efforts, the resources,
16:03are almost always focused on men and homosexuals,
16:06and they are, let's say, where the greatest investment of resources is concentrated.
16:13In terms of HIV, because it is one of the populations,
16:16I mean, men who have sex with men and trans women,
16:19the ones with the highest prevalence, right?
16:21But a very interesting thing that we have observed
16:27is that, over the last few years,
16:30at one point, we made a very radical change, right?
16:33Because we were identified as a gay organization,
16:37and suddenly we made a radical change in communication,
16:40and it became a little more generic communication,
16:42but also integrating other identities.
16:46So, from there, we started to develop some mechanisms,
16:50well, some strategies, aimed at certain populations,
16:53for example, African people and non-binary people.
16:56When we started doing this,
16:59we started to capture this segment of the population,
17:04and the interesting thing was that there are no spaces where I feel included, right?
17:12There are no spaces where I go to a medical consultation,
17:17and they don't interpret, based on my physical characteristics,
17:21that I have sex with men or women, right?
17:24So, that has been very interesting, it is very complex,
17:27it is not easy because,
17:30there is a lot of invisibility in African people,
17:35in trans women, in trans men, right?
17:37And that is also a barrier to find funds, right?
17:40And it is also very complex because there is not much interaction,
17:46I mean, there is no way we can get to know each other better, for example, right?
17:51And well, from the daily practice,
17:56and that our communication is very inclusive,
18:01in the last two years, I could say that each time,
18:04I mean, the number of heterosexual people has increased,
18:08heterosexual people who go to request services.
18:12They feel identified with the quality of attention,
18:16with the way we approach them,
18:19and also because our space is not a separatist space,
18:23where if you are not of the identities, of the dissidents,
18:27there is no space for you, right?
18:30Because we believe that, particularly in the matter of sexuality,
18:34all Mexican society, we are there,
18:39well, impacted by our culture, right?
18:43Our idiosyncrasy, etc.
18:46Yes, I imagine, for example, as a heterosexual,
18:50the issue of that stigma that has prevailed,
18:56well, the moment that if you have HIV,
19:00you say, damn, where do I go, right?
19:04And here there is a very important possibility of emotional containment,
19:10which is an issue that you also carry out, right?
19:13Because this psychological and emotional help must be fundamental
19:18to help people to leave that shame
19:25and assume themselves as such, and start working
19:28for their healing or so that they can live with this in a dignified way.
19:34To enjoy.
19:35To enjoy and not say, damn, I'm going to die, right?
19:39Because generally it was associated with HIV, you're going to die, right?
19:45And today, we already know that thanks to the drugs that exist
19:49and also to this emotional containment,
19:52because emotions and diseases are a nucleus that goes hand in hand, right?
19:56In that aspect, this part of this emotional support,
20:02how have you seen, and also with the use of adequate drugs,
20:07attending to each person, because also each person must react
20:11in a different way with certain drugs,
20:13how have you seen that the quality of life has improved,
20:16prolonged, the years of life, how do you see it?
20:20Well, it is a reality that the technological advance in HIV,
20:27which was like this, of course, which are the treatments,
20:30which is a treatment where there is only one tablet,
20:33the tablet has a smaller size, it has a safety margin,
20:38that is, it will fulfill its function of controlling the virus,
20:42in the amount of things that are less likely
20:46for the virus to become resistant to medication.
20:49That has had a positive impact on the experiences that we have heard
20:54from people who live with HIV, right?
20:56Because even the simple fact of the size of the pill
20:58and the number of daily tablets was something that wore the person down
21:02over time, right?
21:04And of course, we must not forget the side effects
21:07that have been decreasing to a great extent,
21:10and that the side effects were also one of the barriers
21:15by which people decided not to take treatment
21:18or take breaks and suspend it.
21:22Yes, there is an improvement in many ways
21:25because of this advance in treatment,
21:31but also because there are more and more devices
21:38that allow early detection of HIV.
21:42What does that mean?
21:43Well, the first test I did, I had to wait three months
21:47between the situation and do it.
21:49Well, now there are fourth-generation tests,
21:51rapid tests, which are two weeks,
21:53and now you can get an accurate result, right?
21:56That also allows that if I have a recent HIV infection,
22:01I get medical attention, receive treatment,
22:05and then reduce the impact of the infection
22:10by starting treatment as early as possible.
22:14Between a person starting treatment as early as possible,
22:17there is less damage in the body
22:21because of the presence of the virus
22:23and also because of the replication, right?
22:25Because if I am not in treatment,
22:27the virus is going to replicate,
22:29less and less defenses, less C4s,
22:32and a physical deterioration begins
22:35that can lead people to death.
22:37It is a reality that,
22:39despite the technological advances,
22:43nowadays people are still dying in the stage of AIDS,
22:47of HIV infection already in AIDS.
22:50Yes, and also, those tests that were done
22:54with such a long time,
22:56I remember that it was a matter of anguish to wait,
22:59it was a matter of torture,
23:03and also abuse from doctors,
23:07because I had the case of a friend
23:10who went to the doctor and they told him,
23:12you know what, it seems that you do have it.
23:14So, now with this detection much earlier,
23:17two weeks, you say that this is a very important advance
23:21to be able to give certainty, on the one hand,
23:26and also act promptly on the subject.
23:30And there is something that I also loved
23:32about what you are saying,
23:34which is precisely the change of narratives,
23:37because narratives generate realities.
23:41So, the moment we talk about risk control
23:46versus control of pleasure or enjoyment,
23:51as you are handling it,
23:53that also helps a lot
23:56for the patient or people who suffer from HIV
24:01to begin to understand things differently.
24:03How have you been working
24:05on that change of narratives?
24:09Because we are very risky as an organization,
24:12because we risk doing things,
24:17and I think that has been a success so far,
24:24and it starts precisely from listening,
24:29and also from understanding the situation
24:32that people go through when they go.
24:35And what we find, in general,
24:38throughout our history as an organization,
24:41is that even the simple fact of the physical appearance
24:45of the place where you are going to do a test,
24:48is a variable that impacts
24:50that you have stress, anxiety,
24:52like the one you already arrived with.
24:54Hypothetically.
24:55Exactly.
24:56From that type of aspect we have changed,
25:00and one thing...

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