Bridging the Gap: Conference Record [Abstract book, International Conference on AIDS (12th: 1998: Geneva, Switzerland)]

1172 Abstracts 60938-60943

12th World AIDS Conference

megacities the present study results assume grave significance and should be
acted upon in the form of a nation wide multisectorial prevention compaign.
60938 Living with HIV/AIDS a guide for a positive outlook
Janvier Yoba1, Yawo Gouna2, K. Bassabi3, M. Etchepare3, J.K.S. Yoba2. 112, Av
F Mitterand BP13146, Lome; 2Espoir Vie Togo, Lome; 3PNLS/MST, Lome, Togo
Objectives: (a) To provide an information guide adapted to the specifique situation
of PWA.
(b) To anable PWA to acquire more information related to HIV/AIDS so as
to understand their own situation in order to accept social and medical support
essential for their well-being.
(c) To assist PWA to come out of hidding, over the fear of death and other
prejudices, or stigma, in order to assert themeselves.
Methods: This guide is a collaborative effort of PWA and the staff engaged in
their survival program. It's elaboration drew considerably, most of office material
came from the counselling guide on psychosocial support relating to VIH/AIDS to
PNLS/MST TOGO and other document as well as pratical experiences of PWA
of "ESPOIR VIE TOGO". This guide would be avalable to PWA directly if they so
wish or through their docters and their counsellors particulary of the CCD (Center
of counselling and Establish) in Lome the first quarter of 1998. The impact of this
document would be a subject of continues evaluation in order to improve it, to
made the eventual meet of PWA.
Description: This document contain five chapters as follow: basic notion of
HIV/AIDS; whom to contact and where to find help; personal care, personal
traitement, the truth will set you free; different testimony with PWA.
Conclusion: This guide must distributed in the following weeks for a useful
tool and combating HIV/AIDS and the support for PWA. This document conceivd
by PWA and the staff engaged and the support action indicate their commitment
to fight plague.
S60939 Ten years in the life of a PLWHA newsletter
Sergeant Jill, R. McGlaughlin. PO Box 831 Darlinghurst 2010 NSW, PLWH/A
(NSW) Co-Ordinator, Darlinghurst, Australia
Issue: What practical strategies and techniques are crucial for the credibility and
popularity of a publication for people living with HIV/AIDS?
Project: Talkabout, arguably one of the most successful newsletters for People
living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the English speaking world, has been continuously published for a period of almost ten years. This historical retrospective
takes a look at the past decade of growth and change with particular emphasis on
process. We posed these questions: Why has the project taken the directions it
has and how have effective techniques and structures been developed to maintain
its success? What can be learned from Talkabout's successes, its weaknesses
and its controversies about the needs of our readership and the possibilities and
limitations of PLWHA publications. What factors have contributed to Talkabout's
popularity and how can its strengths be maintained?
Results: We found that Talkabout has responded flexibly to a variety of
changes in its environment and in general, remained responsive to the needs of
it readership.
Lessons learned: Key ingredients for the success of a plwha publication
include scrupulous attention to contributors' rights, maintaining an effective consultation and planning process and the development of a comprehensive editorial
policy which guides day to day decision making and guards the integrity of the
publication.
609401 The role of community based self help groups in
mobilsation and prevention of HIV and care for the
affected by HIV
Josephine Nalubega, D. Ayesiga Byaruhanga. Innovative Vision Organisation,
123 High Cross Road, United Kingdom, England, London, Tottenham, UK
Issue: African community groups in the response to prevention and care for
Africans living in England.
Innovative Vision Organisation is a group founded by people of African origin
living with HIV. It has grown rapidly to one of the key role in order to carry out
innovative and effective primary and secondary HIV prevention programmes and
care for Africans living with HIV in the UK. The major innovative programmes
carried out by our organisation (IVO) are involvements of HIV positive people as
volunteers, paid workers and members of the management committee. Tackling
sexual practices and cultural beliefs which hinder practices of safer sex e.g. use
of condoms. Innovative Vision has also undertaken outreach work to pubs, places
of worship and night clubs where Africans go to socialise or pray. We have set
children's and young people's programmes to prevent HIV, STD and teenage
pregnancies. We have set a resources on HIV and pregnancy in order to enable
women to make informed choices about their reproductive rights and also to plan
for the future of their children.

Lessons Learned: Through our innovative programmes we have raised awareness of the inter-related nature of work with HIV. There are many other issues that
affect these families e.g. immigration, housing, poverty so it can only be through
a holistic approach to HIV that prevention and care programmes impact on the
lives of communities and individuals affected by HIV/AIDS.

60941 Viral load determination of 700 patients infected with
HIV-1 evaluated in Belo Horizonte, Brazil -
July-November 1997
Agdemir W. Aleixo Aleixo1, J.A. Pinto2, L.C. Aleixo2, S.M. Eloy-Santos2,
R. Silva2, D.B. Greco2. IRua Antonio Augusto 443 Bairro N. SRA. De, Fatima
Contagem-MG 32017250; 2Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte,
Brazil
Objetives: To evaluate clinical and virological profile of patients infected with
HIV-1 enrolled in a National Program of STD/AIDS Control, followed at three
reference centers in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Patients and Methods: Seven hundred (700) patients were clinically evaluated
and classified in assymptomatic and symptomatic. Viral load determinations were
obtained using Quantitative HIV-1 NASBA" System (ORGANON TEKNIKA).
Results: Since the viral load determination were available just from July 97,
only 8.1% of the 700 patients had more than one viral load determination. The
majority were male (72.3%), 57.9% were symptomatic. The viral load determination showed that 42.2% of the patients had more than 30.000 copies/ml. The viral
load versus clinical classification are shown in Table I.
Table I. Viral load and clinical classification data of 687 patients
< 400 401-3000 3001-10,000 10,001-30,000 > 30,000

Assymptomatic 56
Symptomatic 84

38 57
41 45

33 105
43 185

A higher proportion of symptomatic patients (46.5%) showed viral load above
30000 copies per ml when compared to assymptomatic patients (36.3%). This
difference was statistically significant (p < 0.009).
Conclusion: This is a cross-sectional cohort study; the results indicate viral
load as a promising prognostic for individual patient management. As the availability of these tests increases, a better patient evaluation will be possible and
consequently, new conclusions can be achieved.
60942 1 Psycho-social care of HIV-positive immigrant women
Bernadette Rwegera, G. Musaniwabo, D. Rwegera. 5 Rue Virgil Grisson - Opals
Ikambere 93200 Saint-Denis, France
Objectives: IKAMBERE (the "hospitable home" in Kinyarwanda Language) is
located in the city of Saint Denis, in the outskirts of Paris. It is a drop-in center for
migrant women with HIV; its aim is to respond to their needs to break the isolation
and rejection that they face because of their disease. The women meet together
in a relaxed setting to exchange and share in order to achieve hope, support each
other in their common goal of improving their care and inhance their quality of life
by self-help and by various community activities.
Methods: Women come to IKAMBERE with a plethora of problems which they
share together. Our aim is to reduce the dramatic effect and begin to find solutions through the following activities: prevention, information, cooking (the home
is equipped with a kitchen), sewing, handicrafts, relaxation and body work as well
as reading and writing classes. IKAMBERE proposes meeting with medical and
social professionals that help them deal with health problems, prevention issues,
housing and job seeking and find ways to settle their problem in France. The
women are also linked to PWA organizations.
Results: 74 women were received in one year and they frequently visit the
home. They come from 14 African countries. They were referred by 15 hospitals
or organizations. In the 8 programme areas, there was a total participation of
1103. Participation in the lounge activities was 1251. Total in-coming calls from
women was 685 and from professionals 958 in one year.
Conclusion: The women begin to speak freely and to break their isolation by
finding solutions. The programmes activities help the women gain self confidence
and create solidarity.
60943 Conducts logics faced with HIV-AIDS among first- and
second-generation North African immigrants
Amina Shabou. 13 BD Des Freres Voisin 75015, ARCAT-Sida.CNRS, Paris,
France
Aims: to reconstruct the behavioral logics leading to infection among men and
women living with HIV in the Paris region. The main parameters underlying these
logics were identified through a socio-economic and neocultural analysis based
on personal accounts.
Design: anthropological study
Methods: 90 in-depth interviews.
Results: The logics of infection do not appear to depend on the mode of
infection but rather on a group of parameters, some of which were common to
all the interviewees while others were found in groups of persons with particular
socio-economic and cultural determinants.
The group of parameters that form the basis for a logic of infection are the
following: gender, generation (first- or second-generation immigrants), socioeconomic and social status, neocultural representations, and the social stakes and
symbolism attached to a relationship or partner. The parameters shared by all
the groups were two types: a representation-matrix of the disease in terms of
punishment and/or misfortune, and secondary representations of the infection as
a danger and not as a risk, foreign to the notion of management; a representation
of sexuality and the body, of religious origin in terms of pure/impure, and secularized into the notions of clean/unclean partners. Five groups were identified: men