Sometimes, for all the speeches, events, test-a-thons, and data releases, it is hard to tell one World AIDS Day apart from the one before, a sad comment when you think a year in which much could change passes between them.
This year brought bad news, with figures showing the number of HIV patients rising here, while the number of those getting tested continues to stall.
A recent study, though, showing that efforts on the very front lines of prevention are missing the target and could be better directed offers hope that if we pay attention, next World AIDS Day could be better. Links to the results and a summary of its findings can be downloaded at:
http://www.psp-one.com/content/resource/detail/5350/
The study, titled Who Goes Where and Why? Examining HIV Counseling and Testing Services in the Public and Private Sectors in Zambia was intended to compare the quality of HIV testing and counseling services offered by government, nongovernment, faith-based and private providers (including workplace initiatives as well as private clinics, doctors’ offices, and other for-profit outlets). According to the summary, researchers found “serious areas of underperformance ” across all four.
These included that when counselors had the opportunity to discuss with clients methods to reduce risks of HIV transmission, they neglected counseling to target the major driver of the epidemic here — multiple concurrent sexual partners. According to the study, counseling to disclose test results to partners was given to as few as 2 percent of clients (at private sites) and at most to 32 percent of clients (at NGO sites), and that counseling on reducing one’s number of sexual partners reached — at most just 32 percent of clients (at government-sponsored sites) .
Instead, according to the presentation given last week, clients of “VCT” centers “across the sectors” received counseling emphasizing “minimizing blood exchange, avoiding sharing of needles and sharp objects . . .” — none of which are considered significant drivers of the epidemic here.
All of this suggests that materials and information used to battle the epidemic here are not tailored to this country’s needs. This is important information, if as we mark a quarter-century of AIDS in Zambia we aim to make next World AIDS Day a little different from the one before.
The study, which was carried out in Luapula and the Copperbelt is not statistically generalizable to Zambia overall. At the same time, the summary indicates nothing that set these areas apart — one rural, one urban, from others in Zambia.
World AIDS DAY package . . .
In the meantime, the Daily Mail continued its Health Mail series of in-depth examinations of health topics with a two-page look at the HIV epidemic here, including a feature of efforts to address HIV in prisons, stagnant HIV testing rates, a church’s effort to keep HIV from tearing families apart . . .and an answer to slow condom sales.
Once again, it was my privilege to work with the people who produced it: Benedict Tembo, Paschalina Phiri, Chimwemwe Mwale, Newton Sibanda and Mwazipeza Chanda, and the management of the Zambia Daily Mail.
04/12/2009 at 17:23 |
The name of the study is not “PSP-One” as mentioned in the ariticle. That is the name of the project under which it was carried out. If you open up the website that you have included in your article, you can see the title of the article: Who Goes Where and Why? Examining HIV Counseling and Testing Services in the Public and Private Sectors in Zambia.