0800 LINE: ASK ABOUT AIDS - Ministry of Health, Argentina.
Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. G12506)
Fenoy FD MINISTRY of HEALTH, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The aim of this paper is to report the institutional, organisational, technical and operative features concerning the 0800 Line "Ask about AIDS", an anonymous, gratuitous service with a national scope, designed to: a) provide responses to the information requirements the population demands about HIV/AIDS on the basis of education for prevention; b) convey reliable and updated information, support, and counselling about legal and welfare resources provided by governmental and non governmental institutions through the country; c) collect statistical data in order to suggest guidelines for communicational policies and strategies linked to prevention actions at both national and provincial levels. This telephonic service started operating on December, 1st 1999, by the time Fernando De la Rua took on as President of the country, thus enforcing an agreement between the Plan of Control on AIDS and STI`s - LUSIDA (Ministry of Health, Argentina) and UNESCO, which was co-funded by the World Bank. Current administration relaunched the telephonic line on September 2000 through a promotion and advertising campaign on massive media, allowing the demand of the service a 530 % increase that proved to be largely equitable, since calls came from all the country's provinces. Likewise, policies and substantial actions were redefined and organisational improvements were established. A monitoring and data recollection was carried out concerning calls from the line users in order to find out the incidence of the massive preventative campaigns by LUSIDA and the "Healthy Jails" Program, carried out by the national Ministries of Justice and Health. On January 2001 the plan succeeded to be ranked as part of the stable structure of the national Ministry of Health. As a result of the experience we intend to articulate it with other departments connected with health, human rights or social security plans in order to supply an effective response and broaden the line's scope.
Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Health, HIV Infections, Health Planning, Incidence, Counseling, Voluntary Health Agencies, Health Promotion, Health Services, Argentina, Greece, Human, Education, organization & administration
