Abstract Book Vol. 2 [International Conference on AIDS (14th: 2002: Barcelona, Spain)]

XIV International AIDS Conference

Abstracts ThPeF8105-ThPeF8109 613

parenting roles; youth's perceptions of minimal parental guidance and communication; foundering traditional supportive community practices and structures; a
conspiracy of silence around HIV status and no community support; unemployment and poverty aggravating the danger of risky sexual behavior; and a breakdown in social and sexual norms.
Conclusions: The study highlights the need for reestablishing supportive parentchild roles and rebuilding supportive community structures and practices. Thus,
CHAMP's 'rebuilding the village' philosophy is appropriate. International colleagues will discuss the project.
Presenting author: Carl C. Bell, M.D., Community Mental Health Council, Inc,
Executive Administration, 8704 S. Constance, Chicago, Illinios 60617, United
States, Tel.: [phone] x 204, Fax: [phone], E-mail: carlcbell
@pol.net
ThPeF8105 IHIVAIDS prevention for audibly handicapped
people in Brazil
M.A. Almeida, S.P.N. Lopes, C.O.M. Melo, N.FP. Costa. BEMFAM, Av Republica
do Chile 230, 170 Andar, Centro -Rio de Janeiro - RJ, CEP 20031-170, Brazil
Issue: Adolescents and young people form a high vulnerability group to HIV/AIDS
in Brazil. This vulnerability is even greater in adolescents with special needs, due
to their own handicaps and also the lack of adequate prevention strategies. BEMFAM, a brazilian non governmental organization acting in reproductive health
area, has implemented a pilot program for HIV/AIDS prevention among audibly
handicapped adolescents.
Description: In 1999, BEMFAM went into a partnership wuth SUVAG, a specialized institution for audibly handicapped education, in order to carry out informative
and educational activities concerned with HIV/AIDS prevention, under a gender
equity and citizenship building perspective, through participatory methodology.
The adolescentes had free access to condoms and reproductive health services.
Lessons learned: There is a lot of resistance against working sexuality and reproductive health issues among adolescents with special needs, from families
and society in general. However, there is a real demand for information and education: these adolescents are sexually active likewise other adolescents. The
availability of information, condoms and services for STI treatment is essencial
for the effectiveness of preventive actions.
Recommendations: To sensitize providers in institutions which care for special
needs adolescents and their families, to their HIV/AIDS vulnerability; to search for
intersectional articulation to guarantee the handicapped access to information,
clinic assistance and condoms; to develop educational materials in the handicapped language; to adapt this methodology to other handicapped people, such
as the visual handicapped.
Presenting author: Monica Almeida, Av Republica do Chile 230, 17" Andar, Centro -Rio de Janeiro - RJ, CEP 20031-170, Brazil, Tel.: [phone], Fax: +55
22204057, E-mail: [email protected]
ThPeF8106 Ugandan children and young people in action
against HIV/AIDS: prevention and mitigation
PR Alidril, J. Acidri1, D. Mawejje1, E. Ireland2. 1Save the Children, Kampala,
Uganda; 2Save the Children, London, United Kingdom
Issues: Children bear the brunt of HIV/AIDS in affected communities. However,
more often than not, prevention and care programmes are designed and implemented for children not with them. Save the Children UK (SC UK) sought to identify an approach which would place children in the driving seat of programme
development and implementation.
Programme: SC UK chose to support several children's groups in the Arua District of Uganda to develop a 10-month proposal to address HIV/AIDS within their
communities. One of the activities developed by the children was a series of
adolescent-parent communication fora. In the last six months, these fora have
helped parents and their children to explore the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic
on children, especially girls, in the Arua District. Issues highlighted through these
fora have included early marriage and parents' roles in preventing them, consequences of school drop out, and the need for children to enter into informal and
potentially exploitative employment to contribute to household incomes.
Lessons learned: The key lessons that have come out of this programme to date
include:
- Children are capable of developing their own programme objectives and activities.
- When children are put in the driving seat, innovative programmes emerge.
- Involving children and young people in programme development and implementation can increase cost effectiveness as they are able to identify and mobilise
non-financial resources more easily.
Recommendations: SC UK would recommend that:
- Children and young people are recognised as valuable contributors to HIV/AIDS
prevention and care programmes

- Children and young people are provided with greater opportunities for their
voices to be heard in the development and implementation of HIV/AIDS programmes at community, district and government levels.
Presenting author: Patience Alidri, Save the Children, po box 1124, Kampala,
Uganda, Tel.: [phone], Fax: [phone], E-mail: p.alidri@scukuga.
co.ug

ThPeF8107 Reducing barriers between youth and VCT services
M.A. Juma1, A.P McCauley2, E. Kirumira3, L. Bufumbo3, N. Kakande3,
J. Kalule4, D. Lukenge4, S. Geibel1. 1Horizons Program/Population Council,
Population Council, Multichoice Towers, 2nd Floor, Lower Hill Road, Nairobi,
Kenya; 2Horizons Program/ICRW Washington, D.C., United States; 3Makerere
University, Kampala, Uganda; 4AIDSInformation Centre, Kampala, Uganda
Issues: Voluntary counseling and testing has proved a promising strategy for reducing new HIV infections among adults and efforts are being made to attract
youth to services. So far few youth are comfortable attending adult VCT services.
Description: Programmers wishing to design services that appeal to youth interviewed 369 young people (ages 14 to 21) as they exited adult VCT services. Youth
were asked to list what they liked and disliked about the services. Their responses
were further explored using in-depth interviews, observations and staff interviews.
The positive service aspect most frequently mentioned by youth was the friendly,
warm and caring attitude of the service providers (79%). When asked to explain,
youth mentioned that providers gave them a friendly reception, asked them questions, and talked politely. The negative aspect of service most frequently cited by
youth was waiting times in general (58%), but they were more positive when asked
about each element of their own wait. Respondents reported spending an average of 43 minutes before seeing a service provider, 45 minutes waiting for their
test results and 62 minutes in counseling sessions. Asked how they felt about
these waits, 72%, 87% and 89% of youth clients were satisfied with their waiting
time to see a provider, receive test results, and receive counseling respectively.
Further probing revealed that the wait while each person was called in one-by-one
to be told their HIV status was exceedingly stressful. Youth suggested more counselors, educational videos, and written materials to reduce stress during waiting
time.
Lessons learned: Young people can be very specific and helpful in identifying
barriers to their use of services but programmers may need to probe respondents
to discover practical ways in which VCT services can be improved.
Recommendations: This research recommends that programmers work with
young clients to reduce barriers that prevent youth from accessing VCT services.
Presenting author: Milka Juma, Population Council, Multichoice Towers, 2nd
Floor, Lower Hill Road, Nairobi, Kenya, Tel.: [phone], E-mail: mjuma
@popcouncil.or.ke
ThPeF8108 Health Clubs in non-scholarly milieus: case of
Douala
M.A.D. Mveng Antoinette Desiree. ACMR, B.P5251 DOUALA, Cameroon
Issues: The Health Club aims at fighting against HIV/AIDS in a non scholarly environment. In most cases, youths outside the school environment have little or no
information concerning this issue and are therefore more open to Risky factors
and they adopt, without knowing, risky behaviour.
Description: Youths outside the school environment consider health only when
illness strikes. The creation of these clubs clubs would solutions to their sexual
well being.
In ACMR our NGO, we have created 68 Health Clubs between June and December 2001, 30 of which are in non-scholarly environments. These clubs are managed and run by dynamic youths from the same neighbourhood called Leader
peer educators.
They consider the solutions to apply to their particular problems and develop
strategies to stamp out all negative behaviour while at the same time encouraging
their peers to join these clubs.
Lessons learned: The new experience of being able to meet and discuss their
problems in a proper environments has encouraged these youths to break the
silence imposed by taboos and entertain franc and sincere dialogue with their
parents and most importantly, to adopt more responsible behaviour. The leader
peer educator become easily good models for others youths by their positive behaviour. They convince easily their peers to voluntary HIV tests.
Recommendations: Our experience shows that what ever intellectual background of a youth, he can contribute in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Because sex
don't have intellectual background.
Presenting author: ATOINETTE DESIREE MVENG, B.P.5251 DOUALA,
Cameroon, Tel.: [phone], Fax: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]
ThPeF8109 An HIV services center for African-American sexual
minority youth
R.B.E. Eversley1, R. Mosby2, P. Spikes1, A. Quamina3, R. Williams3. 1UCSF,
San Francisco, United States; 2Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County
Department of Social and Behavioral, Sciences, Box 0612, San Francisco, CA,
94143, United States; 3Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County, Oakland,
CA, United States

Issues: African-American-adolescents and young adult men who have sex with
men comprise the majority of the new HIV/AIDS cases in the United States.
While embedding HIV risk reduction in existing community-based social venues
has been found to be an effective method for targeting HIV risk reduction strategies toward sexual minority youth, few programs have effectively reached young
African-American gay men.
Description: Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County (SMAAC) Youth Center located in Oakland, California is an multi-service program for African-American