A round-table conference on Preventing Risk Behaviours among Children and Teenagers as a follow-up of the Ladya program took place on March 22, 2011, in Chelyabinsk.

The meeting was attended by leaders of the regional AIDS Сenter, officials of the Ministry for Social Relations, the Education Department and the Federal Drug Control Service/Chelyabinsk, as well as representatives of the regional social protection center ‘Semya’, the regional Diagnostic and Counselling Center and delegates from the diocese of Chelyabinsk, the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations and others. There were also specialists trained under the Ladya program including teaching psychologists and social educators from educational institutions in Chelyabinsk and its region.

In his address, A. Byguzov, chief HIV-infection specialist at the Chelyabinsk healthcare ministry, pointed to the tendency towards an increase in the number of HIV-infected young people in Russia and in the region and to the acute need for preventive work. Ms. A. Shunkova of the Federal Drug Control expressed concern over the growing number of drug users in the Chelyabinsk region.

The participants were introduced to Ladya, a program for primary prevention of HIV/AIDS and risk behaviours among adolescents. It has been implemented in Chelyabinsk since 2010. Specialists engaged in teaching according to this program in the region pointed to its positive impact on adolescents and to qualitative changes they observed in their behaviour. Rev. George Artarian, who holds talks under this project, confirmed that young people responded to the program materials very keenly and learnt to make their own responsible decisions on vital issues.

The participants in the Round Table pointed to the importance of prevention work among teenagers and expressed readiness to promote the Ladya program in the region. It was also agreed to set up a coordinating group from among representatives of governmental, public and church organizations participating in the Round Table and engaged in the spiritual and moral education of the younger generations, the prevention of deviant behaviours and concern for the spiritual and moral health of the youth.