The Foundation for Social Education (FES) has opened a new voluntary counseling and testing site at a women’s health center in the heart of Warsaw. As part of the CORE EU project, we had the opportunity to visit the site and interview their CEO, Magdalena Ankiersztejn-Bartczak, about the services they provide.
FES’s new voluntary counseling and testing service is located at the premises of the Federation for Women and Family Planning (FEDERA)—a healthcare center offering gynecological, psychiatric, and reproductive health support services for women.
The main services provided by FES include HIV, Hepatitis, and Syphilis testing. Their nurses offer both rapid and laboratory tests for HIV, HCV, and syphilis, along with pre- and post-test counseling. They also conduct outreach testing at parties and collaborate with the NGO Prekursor, operating a harm reduction bus where they offer testing and counseling for people who use drugs.
With the support of the CORE project, FES has launched an online self-testing kit service to address Poland’s low HIV testing rates—only 10% of Poles get tested for HIV in their lifetime. Through FES’s website, people can order HIV self-testing kits free of charge. The World Health Organization (WHO) quickly recognized the success of this initiative and provided an additional 10,000 free test kits, all of which were distributed between March and August 2024.
“We are pushing the government to at least implement a pilot PrEP project,” says Magdalena Ankiersztejn-Bartczak, CEO of FES.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an HIV prevention medication that significantly reduces the risk of infection. It is taken by individuals at high risk of exposure to HIV, whether through sexual contact or injection drug use. However, PrEP is still not free in Poland and is only available through private clinics. Two more major concerns in Poland are that undocumented migrants without public insurance do not access HIV treatment, and that the country still criminalizes failure to disclose one’s HIV status to a partner.
“The Polish EU presidency in 2025 is a great opportunity to advocate for access to PrEP, combination prevention strategies, and better support for people living with HIV,” explains Magdalena. She also highlights the crucial role of EU-funded projects in advancing HIV prevention and treatment in Poland:
“European Union projects like CORE help our organization enhance our work and implement innovative programs. CORE also plays a vital role in supporting our advocacy efforts at the EU level.”
This video was produced in the CORE – COmmunity Response to End Inequalities EU project framework. CORE is a 36-month EU Action Grant from January 1st, 2023, to December 31st, 2025, involving 24 partners from 16 EU Member States. The project seeks to reduce inequalities in the responses to HIV, TB, and viral hepatitis by promoting, strengthening, and integrating community responses that have proven essential in reaching communities traditionally underserved by mainstream prevention and healthcare services. Funded by the EU4Health Programme, this project is particularly crucial in countries where these responses remain inadequate compared to the EU average.
Text and video:
István Gábor Takács
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsiable for them.
