National HIV Prevention Conference Atlanta, Georgia, USA — July 27 - 30, 2003

Natl HIV Prev Conf 2003 July 27-30:abstract no. M1-B1601
Sanchez MA, Hernandez MT, Lemp GF, Aoki B, Ruiz JD, Drake MV
University of California, Office of the President, Universitywide AIDS Research Program, Oakland, CA

ISSUE: Relatively little is known about the extent of the HIV/STD/TB epidemic among Mexican migrants and recent immigrants residing in California. Given the limited data on HIV/STD/TB prevalence, trends in high-risk behaviors, and determinants of behavior, the California-Mexico Epidemiological Surveillance Pilot (CMESP) is currently being developed, implemented, and evaluated in California and Mexico.

SETTING: San Diego County and Fresno County in California and Oaxaca, Mexico.

PROJECT: CMESP is a collaborative project between research, surveillance, and healthcare delivery agencies in Mexico and California and is composed of three modules. Module One addresses ethnographic and observational surveillance and enumeration methodologies that provide the core framework for community health surveillance and evaluation of interventions. Module Two addresses the implementation of the Simplified Epidemiological Surveillance System (SESS), which combines syndromic assessment with community outreach methods. Module Three includes periodic targeted sampling for behavioral surveillance purposes and to determine disease prevalence.

RESULTS: This enhanced epidemiological surveillance ystem provides improved monitoring of behavioral, medical, environmental, service, and demographic trends and changes over time and place. Ultimately this surveillance system will provide a better means for accurately assessing the burden and trends of HIV/STD/TB disease and for evaluating the impact of HIV/STD/TB prevention and health care programs and interventions for this population.

LESSONS LEARNED: The expectation is that CMESP will address the highest priority HIV/STD/TB needs of Mexican migrants throughout California and Mexico and will provide an opportunity to evaluate the impact of migration on transmission dynamics, risk behaviors, and mixing, given that poverty, isolation, lack of access, and discrimination define the migrant experience and are potential underlying factors for transmission.

030727
M1-B1601

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