PRONTO! at ChillOut Festival’s 2015 Carnival Day

Following the success at Melbourne’s Midsumma Carnival, VAC’s PRONTO! service
will be heading out to Daylesford to offer free rapid HIV testing to regional and rural Victorians during the
upcoming ChillOut Festival’s Carnival Day on Sunday 8 March.
In the lead up to AIDS 2014, PRONTO! began offering outreach testing sessions in venues frequented by
gay and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in and around Melbourne. This effort to make rapid
HIV testing even more accessible proved so successful that the outreach sessions were also introduced
at Midsumma Festival’s Carnival on Sunday 18 January 2015. During Midsumma Carnival, all available
testing sessions on the day were quickly booked out with a overflow directed to book online at PRONTO!’s
website.
“The high demand to use to the PRONTO! service at these events has been a clear reflection that the
community is keen to take advantage of these opportunties,” said VAC CEO, Simon Ruth. “We also hope
that PRONTO!’s presence at these events encourages more open discussions about sexual health screening
and helps to de-stigmatise getting tested.”
ChillOut Carnival attendees will be able to access available testing sessions at PRONTO!’s Carnival stall.
Then, the on-site PRONTO! van offers a secure and confidential space to then have the quick finger-prick
test to know your HIV status in a matter of minutes.
VAC Director of Services, Kent Burgess hopes making PRONTO! available in Daylesford is embraced as
much in a regional setting as it has been around Melbourne.
“We hope that PRONTO! being at ChillOut Festival will encourage regional and rural Victorians to get
tested,” he said. “Knowing your status is the best way to ensure your ongoing sexual health and wellbeing
as well as look after the people you’re hooking up with.”
For more information on the PRONTO! service or to book an appointment at the PRONTO! site in Fitzroy,
go to: pronto.org.au