AEGiS-14IAC: Issue realization towards community based care and support - people living with HIV/AIDS - a social research experience.

14th International AIDS Conference


Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

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Issue realization towards community based care and support - people living with HIV/AIDS - a social research experience.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. G12512)

William RR
Ccoorr, Thiruninravur, Tamilnadu, India

ISSUES: Providing care and support to PLHAs at community level is emerging as a major challenge in the total HIV/AIDS scenario of India as it is affordable and sustainable. There is no major experience available to plan programs in this direction because the basic issues of people living with HIV/AIDS are not visible to start the planning process.

DESCRIPTION: A scientific social research was conducted for a duration of 3 months. A participatory Community Need Assessment exercise was undertaken with 90 PLHAs living in villages of Namakkal District, Tamilnadu. Through volunteers this exercise was facilitated by direct interactions with PLHAs in the form of Focus Group Discussions and In-depth Interviews. Focus group discussions and Key Informants Interviews were also conducted with community members whose status is not known. The findings were presented by the volunteers in an experience sharing forum. From this sharing, issues were synthesized and brought out.

ISSUES: 30 major issues are identified during the above social research process. The first five issue statements are, community stigmatization Vs isolation, Child survival in Parent to Child Transmission Vs mother survival, care of living Vs care of dead, economic rehabilitation Vs social rehabilitation and Peer Education Vs Volunteer Education. The message brought out is that the PLHAs are clear about their needs at this stage of program planning itself, but are not able to define the problem and priority definitely. The same scenario prevails with care providers.

RECOMMENDATIONS: These identified 30 issues could form the base for any care provider in India for further dialogue with their beneficiary PLHAs and decide on the actual issues in their scenario. This will enable the care providers to formulate the right intervention model in community based care and support program.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Infections, Research, HIV Seropositivity, Health Services Needs and Demand, Focus Groups, Interviews, Voluntary Workers, Parents, India, Child, Human, PsychologyKWDaegis,acquiredimmunodeficiencysyndrome,hivinfections,research,hivseropositivity,healthservicesneedsanddemand,focusgroups,interviews,voluntaryworkers,parents,india,child,human,psychology

020707
G12512

Copyright © 2002 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.