2007

UALE – Prevention, control and treatment of the sexual transmission infections (STI/HIV( in Escuintla (Guatemala)

The context

In 1984 was the first case of HIV/AIDS in Guatemala. The situation of STIs, and specially HIV/AIDS in this country has sustained growth, and according to the latest report of reporting of cases of AIDS of the Ministry of Health, in March 2007 10.304 cases were reported., Escuintla, Guatemala, has become the most affected department by the disease.

The activity of the AIDS Foundation and Society was launched through the AIDS Barcelona’s Foundation 2002 due to the XIV International Conference of AIDS in Barcelona 2002. From that moment two Projects of International Cooperation were started, one in Guatemala and one in Senegal.

The project to evaluate

The UALE Project –Integral Project for the Prevention, Control and Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI/HIV) in Escuintla (Guatemala)- began in 2004 as part of an agreement between the AIDS 2002 Barcelona Foundation and the Ministry of health of Guatemala (MSPAS). Initially designed to strengthen the response of the national HIV/AIDS programme in one of the groups most affected by the epidemic of AIDS –the commercial sex workers- the Project gave support to the health centres in Santa Lucía, Escuintla and Puerto San José.

For the project, a multidisciplinary team made up of doctors, nurses, educators and psychologists was created to strengthen in a technical way the health centres as centres of reference in the Department of Escuintla in order to: facilitate the early diagnosis of HIV/AIDS and the STI treatment, develop HIV/STI prevention in vulnerable groups, and provide a medical service quality without discrimination. The project also developed a system of computerized records that create at the national level, the basis for a system of STI/HIV epidemiological surveillance and behavioural changes.

Since its inception, the project has incorporated new elements, as the extension of services to the general population and other affected populations, or the component of medical care to victims of sexual violence. Morevor, the project has become an effective programme to reduce the prevalence and incidence of  HIV/
AIDS/STI in the entire population of the Department of Escuintla.