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

12th World AIDS Conference

Abstracts 13422-13426 171

had been carried out. There were 29 group members who joined and shared
their experiences and rendered morale support for each other. At the schoolbased, two school were selected and student volunteers were trained. Based line
behavior information were also collected and use for developing prevention for
these secondary school students. At the factory-based, one factory was selected
because the high willingness to participate of the manager. Volunteers among the
workers were trained to act as "prime movers" in different working sections. Group
education, exhibitions and other informal conversation were carried out. Condoms
were distributed up to 5000 items during the past five months of the intervention.
Lesson Learned: Participation from the target population, their leaders and
researcher are impressive and enthusiastic. This kind of operational process is
truly a great learning experience and will certainly lead to sustainability in the long
run.
13422 Community involvement in prevention programmes
Maria Celina Menezes. Positive People, 1st Floor, A7 Skylark APTS, Panjim
Goa, India
Issue: There is a strong need to involve the community in programmes aimed to
reduce transmission of HIV.
Project: The high proportion of HIV+ cases along the coastal tourist belt of
Goa warranted the intervention of POSITIVE PEOPLE. Initial emphasis was on
'Beach Boys' who were considered a vulnerable group. Gradually, we realise
that focussing on beach boys not only discriminated against them, but was an
inappropriate intervention strategy. Moreover, involving the entire community is
both an effective strategy as well as necessary since the coat, unity as a whole
is vulnerable. Tourism and its negative fallouts like alcoholism, drug abuse and
sexual experimentation have had a tremendous impact on the coastal bait.
Our intervention programmes involve hotel staff, shack owners & staff, taxi
drivers and motorcycle pilots, church goers, youth groups, panchayats (local administrative bodies), construction labourers and educational institutions. We have
an active network of volunteers and peers who have been instrumental in sustaining this programme. Their involvement varies from organising programmes
and providing financial support to assisting PLHIV/PWA in times of need. We
have found that the programmes are far more effective when the community is
involved.
The involvement of the community in prevention programmes is essential not
merely for immediate practical assistance but for the affectiveness and sustainability of such programmes.
S13423 Mobilizing and involving children and youth on HIV/AIDS
prevention education through experimental theater
Bernardo Capili1, J.P. Asuncion2, B.V. Leoligao2. 195-13th St. West Tapinac;
201ongapo City AIDS Foundation, Olongapo City, Philippines
Issue: An innovative and relevant stage presentation could be an affective
means to mobilize, involve and utilize children and youth on HIV/AIDS prevention
education.
Project: Fourty-five potential youth and children coming from different schools
and community were recruited by OCAFI and took a series of HIV/AIDS lectures
and theater workshops. The experimental play conveyed HIV/STD messages
addressed to children, parents and youth. The script and concept of the play
was developed by the director and performers themselves faithfully adhering the
correct and appropriate information on HIV/AIDS and STD's with emphasis on
human rights, issue of PLWHIV, children and youth, highlighted by a candlelight
ceremony that calls for a commitment to support HIV/AIDS concern. Rehearsals
were done in public places to further create awareness and instill responsibility.
The performers took the lead in marketing and promoting the play in partnership
with the OCAFI to easily reach the target audience.
Results: The children and the youth realized the importance of partnership and
unity as they actively and directly involved their selves, enhancing their talents
and potentialities. They finally came up with two special stage plays that received
an overwhelming response from the community for these presentations, offered
enlightenment educational informations as well as entertainment.
Lessons Learned: Experimental theater presentation has been a very effective
means in HIV/AIDS prevention education.
13424 "Who's cruising who?" A study of the socio-sexual
characteristics of men using public sex environments
(PSE) in North West London
Martin Kirk, A.P.M. Coxon2. 1AIDS Education Unit, Colindale Hospital Colindale
Avenue, London NW 5HG; 2University of Essex, Colchester, UK
Issues: A lack of empirical data on the characteristics of men who use PSEs has
resulted in interventions and materials being targeted at a group of men known
as MESMEN (men who have sex with men but do not identify as gay) without
proof either of their existence as the majority of PSE users, their knowledge or
their risk levels.

Project: In order to investigate the theory of MESMEN, the Cottaging or Cruising (COC) has conducted extensive research on PSE users in the boroughs of
Barnet and Brent & Harrow. An holistic approach was adopted to investigate all
aspects of the men's lives, identities and risk levels.
Methods: Ninety Six questionnaires were collected on site with a further one
hundred and eighty five through the GMFA (Gay Men Fighting AIDS) journal,

F***SHEET, being used as a control sample. An extensive literature review of all
publicly available material relating to PSE work and theory in Great Britain (and
with reference to major findings and trends from around the world) informed the
work and is published in tandem with the research findings.
Results: There were a series of headline findings, the most important being
that most PSE users in the COC area self identified as gay (and there is no
evidence that men who have sex with men but do not identify as gay did not
participate in the research); there is no evidence of a disproportionate presence
of men from ethnic minorities; PSE users are highly mobile; PSE users appear
to have strong connections both with the commercial gay scene and local, social
gay groups; there is evidence of a strong sense of community and that reported
sexual behaviour in PSEs does not appear to be unusually unsafe.
(a) There should be a shift in emphasis in away from MESMEN, towards gay
identified men.
(b) Interventions should be multi-faceted to accommodate the whole range of
PSE users
(c) Only a small proportion of resources should be spent on basic awareness
(d) Work should be experimental in order to identify the most effective practices.
Implicit in this is the need for rigorous monitoring and evaluation
13425 I Evaluating a training model for STD/HIV-AIDS prevention
amongst low-income women from slum areas in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil
Regina Helena Sim6es Barbosa1, C. Cavalcanti2, F. Rodrigues2, C.S. Cabral2,
M. Romero2, L. Baptista3. 1Av. N.S. Copacabana No 02 Apto 701 Leme, Rio de
Janeiro 22010-120; 2Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ,
3State Public School Teacher, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Training of low income women as community health workers on STDs/HIV prevention according to a gender-based educational model that emphasizes emotional
authonomy and social-ecological responsibility.
Project: The project has trained 12 women from a Rio de Janeiro slum to
work in community health prevention. Trainees are in reproductive age, have low
formal education and scarce professional capacitation. Most are underemployed
housewives. Out of twelve, two are teenagers and have no children and only
other two women have finished high school. The training programme explores
gender cultural and power relations and recognises that the adoption of safer
sexual practices depends on individual emotional development and on cultural
factors. The training programme included workshops and reflexion groups on:
group constitution; identity construction and social responsibility; gender roles
and attitudes; sexuality; reproductive health, anatomy and physiology of the reproductive system; pregnancy, contraception; STDs/HIV-AIDS transmission and
prevention; enrollment strategies; women's involvement in the project, safer sex
negotiation. Participant methodologies were employed, and group discussion and
activities were alternated with information sessions. Individual interviews were
applied before and after the training as a means to evaluate it.
Results: Results point out that participants have conquered social authonomy,
as proven by the recognition and the legitimation of their work by community
members. In the domestic domain there has also been enhancement: four of
them have managed to negotiate condom use with their husbands - even though
not regularly - and one of them has left the group to engage in factory work in
search of economic independence that enables her to leave her husband. Group
members show greater self-confidence, are more talkative and more willing to
make decisions based on their own judgements.
Evaluation has shown that educational and prevention strategies for married
women - specially those with low educational level, low income and underemployed - should be gender-based and should consider the acquisition of emotional
authonomy both in the public and the private spheres, in order to make decisions
concerning their destinies and their health.
13426 AIDS prevention in India through religious festivities and
programs
Trupti I. Gilada, I.S. Gilada, R.D. Ashar. Indian Health Organisation, Municipal
School Bldg., J.J. Hospital Compd. Bombay, India
Issue: For centuries, India has been a land of deities, religions and sects. Religion
plays important role in individual lives, in knitting social and national fabric. People
love celebrating festivals with fervour; spending lot of time and money. We have
85% Hindus, largely docile, who have always been influenced by deities and
misconceptions. Most festival programs are organised by youth; who are more
prone to HIV. Most religious programs are organised by elderly, who are decision
makers about access of information to youth.
Methods: Realising value of festivities and programs in creating cost-effective and culturally sensitive AIDS awareness, series of events are during major
Hindu festivals/discourses in Bombay. They are expected to divert some funds
towards AIDS education through talks, slide/video shows, exhibitions and street
plays, with sound technical backup. People are requested to refrain from alcohol,
drugs and smoking. Services of mobile clinic, counseling, subsidised testing and
support are offered in addition to leaflets and condoms. Exhibitions are held in

temples. Public address system of religious places is used to air messages/songs
frequently. Specially devised slogans are painted on both sides of railway tracks.
Results: Millions have been reached cost effectively. Started with IEC materials
carrying mild and indirect messages, has slowly and steadily evolved into hard
hitting campaigns with direct messages and even condom promotion as God's
order. An unhindered acceptance of this initiative, attributable to open minded