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PRIMEX, DOH collaborate in studying |
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Posted on 25 Sept 2007 The Department of Health (DOH) is collaborating with the PRIMEX team of experts , who are implementing the ADB-funded project on strengthening HIV/AIDS response, in determining the prevalence of injecting drug use (IDU) in three areas known to have populations of injecting drug users. Under the overall leadership of Dr. Aura Corpuz of the DOH National Epidemiology Center (NEC) and the area supervision of the City Health Officers of General Santos City and Zamboanga City, and with the technical backstopping provided by the DOH Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Units (RESUs) in the two cities, the 2007 Integrated HIV and AIDS Behavioral Surveillance Study (IHBSS) was carried out by composite teams of national, regional, and local health personnel in General Santos and Zamboanga cities starting in early August. With the primary interviews and focus group discussions completed last week, the area supervisors and RESU epidemiologists are now in the process of analyzing the data collected and will soon be preparing the survey report. The conduct of IHBSS is an annual activity of the DOH-NEC aimed at getting updated statistics on the extent of HIV prevalence in the country among populations considered most at-risk. They include female and male sex workers working freelance or based in establishments, men having sex with men (MSM), IDUs, clients of sex workers or occasional cohorts among men [OCM]). This year, because the ADB project lists the conduct of an IDU prevalence survey as one of its major deliverables, DOH suggested, and ADB agreed, that instead of the Project providing funds for separate prevalence surveys at the three sites with known IDUs, the Project could augment DOH funds and enable NEC to conduct the surveys in the three cities. The team used the rapid assessment qualitative reports “mapping the activities among IDUs , ” which was conducted by DOH-NEC with technical assistance from Family Health International (FHI) in 2004, as springboard for discussions to validate the presence of IDUs at these sites. Using a “peer-driven process,” concrete estimates of total IDUs in General Santos and Zamboanga were obtained. The team has made direct access to the IDUs and secured their commitment to participate in the 2007 IHBSS survey. To complement the results of the IHBSS surveys, FGDs were conducted in the cities of GenSan and Zamboanga among LGUs and NGOs, police enforcers, male IDUs, and female IDU clients. The FGDs were held to gain a better understanding of the magnitude of risks and vulnerabilities, sexual behaviors, and health practices among IDUs. The survey team, which has completed the process in General Santos City and Zamboanga City, is composed of 20 to 25 members, including an Area Team Leader, an Assistant Team Leader, an epidemiologist from the concerned DOH RESU, seven to eight mappers/recruiters, eight interviewers, two medical technologists, and two encoders. Back to Top |Back to News/Events
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