Passador LH, Dos Santos AL, Da Silva FF, Brunetti JM, Pinto TC; International Conference on AIDS (15th : 2004 : Bangkok, Thailand).

Int Conf AIDS. 2004 Jul 11-16; 15: abstract no. C12272.

APTA - Association for AIDS prevention and care, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Issues: The Projeto Rua Paim aims to promote STD/HIV/AIDS prevention among transvestites and their social network, including sex partners, male and female sex workers. The background for the developed actions is the understanding of their vulnerability and the needs to promote resilience. Description: The intervention occurs once a week in their living places (a hotel where they rent rooms to live or nearby their home), in the afternoon, during the time they are not working yet. The transvestites, their partners and other sex workers receive condoms and lubricating gel every week. The project contact a rate of forty individuals each week. During the interventions, besides the distribuition of condoms and gel, they are informed about transmission, testing and treatment for STD/HIV/AIDS and sent to public health services when demanded. The project staff develops discussions about living conditions, health care, drug using, safe sex, couple relationship, sex working, gender identity and human rights. Lessons learned: Prevention work in living places became a good strategy for intervention among sex workers. Working in their living places allows to observe and better understand the conditions of life that determines the vulnerability of that population. Not only sex working, but a wider range of experiences impose situations and attitudes that lead them to assume risks of infection. Social discrimination, poverty, crime and violence are life conditions that influence them to think about a short lifetime of their own and a lack of life project, that results in a lack of preventive attitudes toward health care. Recommendations: The project intends to extend the same work to one more neighbourhood. Besides that, we understood that the vulnerability of the transvestites are related to poverty and unstable living conditions, because the lack of jobs for them, which demands actions to garantee a stable income throug the installation of a complementary income generation center. This center could provide income and self maintanence for them and the project.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• Brazil
• Condoms
• Female
• HIV Infections
• HIV Seropositivity
• Health Planning Guidelines
• Health Services
• Humans
• Infection
• Male
• Prejudice
• Prostitution
• Research
• Sexual Partners
• education

Other ID:

• GWAIDS0033329

UI: 102277545

From Meeting Abstracts