On December 1st, World AIDS Day, medical students all over Europe try to raise awareness through numerous activities, such as lectures, exhibitions, distribution of condoms and pamphlets, charity concerts, candle-lighting in squares etc.

Through this sexual prevention work, EMSA aims to raise awareness amongst our target group (usually 12-17 years), talk openly about prevention, safe sex, puberty and growing up, protecting unwanted pregnancy and anything related to sex. Medical students do not only visit teenagers in schools but also other youth groups. The projects are a little different in each country, but mostly we have the same basis: interactive methods to get people involved and to get them thinking, we focus on talking and communication without giving long lectures and the whole session should be as much fun and (inter-)action as possible.

Often EMSA’s local faculty member organisations (FMOs) cooperate with similar local, national and international institutions and NGOs, active in the same field, such as UNAIDS, Act-Up, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Centres for Disease Control and Prevention of different European countries, local authorities etc.