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

720 Abstracts 34170-34175

12th World AIDS Conference

Lessons Learned: Such programs can be quite succeasful if representatives
are volunteers and not hand-picked from member NGOs/CBOs, persons knowledgible in Health sciences, preferably. Alignment with, Funding by the government
and follow-up AIDS awareness training to member organisations is vital as well
as effective media coverage of all activities.
34170 HIV/AIDS in rural communities in a developing country:
How has the household coped? A Nigerian case study
Omololu Falobi. Punch Newspapers, 1, Kuyeti Street Onipetesi Ikeja Lagos,
Nigeria
Issue: At least 7 out of every 10 person living with HIV/full blown AIDS in Nigeria's
rural communities live below poverty level. Most suffer from malnutrition and die.
What coping mechanisms must be designed for households, the primary care
units, for effective management of this pandemic?
Project: Given the prevalence of cases of full blown AIDS in Nigeria's rural communities, a case-study of the Ife-ljesa rural area was developed. Over
several weeks, visits to homes of PLWA were made, including interactions and
interviews with members of the households and a study of their cultural, social
and economic conditions. Consultations were initiated with government agencies
and group interviews and discussions held to assess needs and situations.
Results: Negative cultural strains and endemic poverty severely restrict positive household response to the caring of PLWA observed. In the absence of
medicare support and welfare services, the burden of caring is too heavy for the
household to carry.
Lessons Learned: Need for a sustainable, institutionalised programme involving government rural development agencies, community leaders, CBOs and rural
health professionals in order to achieve poverty alleviation, medicare support and
awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention and control methods.
34171 Designing and facilitating empowerment with organized
PLWH/As: Popular education, PINOY PLUS, and its power
over its future
Moises U. Escueta. Kabalikat Drop-In Center, 89 Maginoo St., Central District,
QC, Philippines
Issue: In 1996, members of the organization of Filipino positives, PINOY PLUS,
expressed the need for the organization to begin to effectively respond to the
various individual, family, organizational, and societal concerns related to the pandemic. What was required was for the organization to actualize its empowerment.
Project: The implementation of an Organizational Development Program with
PINOY PLUS. Activities included: participatory rapid appraisal sessions to define individual, inter-personal, and organizational development needs; the actual
conduct and evaluation of appropriate courses and other activities; and follow-through appraisals for consequent efforts. Conducted were workshops on:
Team-Building; Vision, Mission, and Goals Reformulation, and Strategic Planning;
Peer Support Group Formation; Human Rights, HIV and Appropriate Attitudes;
and Counseling. These were designed in the tradition of popular education with
highly participate/liberative approaches appropriate to the various levels of needs
of positives in the Philippine context of poverty. Initiatives emphasized process
in self-empowerment, with content designed to enable participants to help themselves and each other develop or enhance perceptions, experiences, attitudes,
knowledge, and skills (PEAKS). The capabilities of the members as individuals and as an organized formation to define their context and their needs for
themselves, design alternatives, actualize these alternatives, and evaluate their
emergent context and next level of need, were effectively developed or enhanced.
Results: With contributions from these initiatives, PINOY PLUS is now more
able to respond to the needs of its members, and by extension, of Philippine
society. Their efforts include programs in education, skills development, care and
support, peer support, human rights promotion and defense, advocacy, team consciousness and team effort, membership, livelihood, network and linkage work.
Lessons Learned: Contributing to the empowerment initiatives of organizations of PLWH/As requires a comprehensive understanding of an organization's
context, knowledge of appropriate content of needed courses, and facility over
popular education and liberative methodologies to enable participants to take on
the primary role in these efforts. This is a most effective approach to contributing
to the efforts of PLWH/As for empowerment, for them to assert their power over
their future.
34172 Homosexual and AIDS in Cuba
Regino Teran Abreu. Agua # O1E: Parqe Ybe 11A Vista, Cerro Ciudad dela
Habana CP 12000, Cuba
Issue: The number of Gay people infected by HIV is increasing in Cuba
Project: To get to the Gay places, which are not authorized by the government
Cuba. That's why they are the most popular. To segnsent the Gay population
that Goes to this place into age and sexual taste (homosexual, bisexual or sex

Workers). We propose ourselves a project of support with these groups. We
Appointments each Friday on this place, gave them condoms, lubricants and
Information. We also exchanged ideas and experiences a about HIV/ADIS a
Sexual transmission diseases.
Results: Step by step we saw how they get interesting on knowing more about
HIV/ADIS and also to inform about the already learned to other friends. The way
to disseminate information about HIV/ADIS aurong homosexuals was opened.

Lesson Learned: I learned that homosexuals are still a little bit isolated in
Cuba mid that they need an "space". also that You have to help people to know
the disease, to make them capable to take care of themselves an not to reject The
infected ones. To stablish conversations with governmental authorities in order to
create places (space) where homosexuals can make social life.
S34173 Growing youth in the struggle against HIV/AIDS
Mabel Dorothy Nakimera. Foundation for Coomunity Development, PO. Box
6434 Kampala, Uganda
Objectives: Reducing the infection rate of HIV/AIDS in slums and improving the
standards of living of persons living with HIV/AIDS.
Design: Counselling, Treatment and small projects promotion.
Method: 62 youths in Kampala west were persuaded to join in our 2 weeks'
campaign entitled "Stop Worrying and Get on the Move to Fight the Enemy".
The topics were counselling and treating of infected and affected persons plus
promotion of micro-projects. Coupons were given out after the campaign for those
who have HIV/AIDS and wished to join in our struggle to reduce the infection to
fill and give us their addresses.
Results: 12 youth declared in public that they were HIV+ and needed our
support and care, 22 coupons were filled - giving a total of 34. They have been
able to get better services, start micro-projects like poultry and tailoring. These
lead to income generating and overcoming of redundancy, which lead to the
reduction of infection.
Conclusion: Many HIV+ youths are willing to fight the spread of the disease.
What they need is more knowledge about it and good treatment plus a stable
income which gives them better planning
420*/34174 Children of the cities- A situation analysis of
urban orphans due to AIDS in Bulawayo
Judith Mthombeni1, Stefan Germann2. 1Provincial Social Welfare Officer, PO.
Box 563, Bulawayo; 2Provincial Child Welfare Forum, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Issue: AIDS has changed the world for children. Extended families traditionally
provide support for orphans - but for how long? Especially in urban centers AIDS,
combined with economic hardship pushes the extended family to breaking point.
Community support action is requiered.
Project: The Provincial Social Welfare Office formed in 1995 a Child Welfare
Forum as per national guidelines. As its first project, this mulit disciplinary forum,
embarked on a research project to analyse the situation of orphans and children in
especially difficult circumstances (CEDC) in urban Bulawayo, the second largest
city in Zimbabwe. The aim of the project was to enable both policy makers and
programme implementers to identify whether the public is aware of the rising
problems of orphans and its resulting consequences and how they cope with the
situation and what intervention the communities plan to tackle the problem of
orphans. 394 households, most of them in high-density areas, caring for orphans
or CEDC were visited and caregivers and children were interviewed. The fact that
the voice of over 350 children, on how they perceive their own situation, is well
documented makes this research project unique in Zimbabwe.
Results: The research project, carried out by the community, strengthened the
community coping capacity to face the increasing number of orphan in the city.
Matters of great concern such as 40% of interviewed children are engaged in
child labour (vendors) to support the caregivers or that 84% of caregivers are
unemployed or operate in the informal sector have been identified. These and
many other issues presented in the research report have influenced policy regarding the community support of urban orphans. Communities do not want hand
out from government but clear policies to facilitate community self help initiatives
with the government taking on the responsibility of the children's education.
Lessons Learned: Research conducted by community forums empowers and
increases coping capacity of the part taking communities. Such socially relevant
data is directly benefiting community based orphan support programmes in their
programme planning and evaluation.
34175 A neighborhood-based workshop program to improve
mother-daughter communication and reduce adolescent
sexual risk behavior in a low-income Puerto Rican
community
Ruth Nina-Estrella1, Y. DeLeon-Pagan1, I. San Juan1, I. Menendez-Fuentes1
R. Bermudez-Santiagol, K. Sikkema2, J.A. Kelly2. 1HIV Research Center, Un. of
Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus, PO Box 23345, Puerto Rico; 2Cair/Medical
College of Wisconsin, USA
Issue: Family interventions play an important role in helping adolescents avoid
HIV and STD risk behavior. Interventions that improve family communication
and dynamics regarding the prevention of sexual risk behaviors are especially
needed. A community-based intervention was developed to improve knowledge
and communication about sexual risk behavior.

Project: A culturally tailored intervention was developed to improve knowledge
and communication of mothers and adolescents about sexual risk behaviors.
Six workshops of 90 minutes each were held in their Community Center: (1)
Communication skills- how to listen to the other, to express oneself clearly about
one's sexuality and sexual risk behavior, to be assertive with regard to sexuality
and safer sex practices. (2) Sexual development - the physiological functions of
the male and female body. (3) Preventing sexual risk behavior- HIV, STD's and