Brazil |
Amazonas State STD/HIV/AIDS Programme
Section 1: About the project
What is the name of the project and where is it based?
The project is called the Amazonas State STD/HIV/AIDS Programme Municipal STD/HIV/AIDS Programme, Itacoatiara Amazonas
The project is based in Itacoatiara in one of Amazonas’ 62 municipalities. Amazonas is the largest of the 27 states that make up Brazil. A municipality is similar to a district in the UK. Itacoatiara is located 260 kilometres from the State capital, Manaus, in the North of Brazil. 85,000 people live here and it is one of the few cities in the State accessible to the outside world by road. The majority of municipalities in Amazonas are only accessible by lengthy river trips or expensive air travel.
With the great rivers of Amazonas acting as highways, many Amazoneses have difficulties accessing healthcare, including State and National STD/HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes. To improve access and increase the capacity of local health teams, Amazonas State STD/HIV/AIDS Programme partnered with International Service to place development workers in various cities throughout Amazonas.
What is the project about?
Amazonas State STD/HIV/AIDS Programme is the branch of Brazil’s Ministry of Health that oversees all programming related to STDs and HIV/AIDS in the State of Amazonas. They receive funding and programme mandates from the National STD/HIV/AIDS Programme in Brasilia and disseminate these resources to Municipal teams.
The Municipal STD/HIV/AIDS Programme in Itacoatiara is responsible for all STD and HIV/AIDS programming at the local level. Itacoatiara is a polo city, which means it is also a reference point for STD and HIV/AIDS programming in four other municipalities.
The Amazonas State STD/HIV/AIDS Programme is responsible for all STD and HIV/AIDS programmes state-wide. They partner with Municipal Coordination teams in the areas of prevention, treatment, training, notification of cases, allocation of resources, and implementation of projects.
What does the project do?
The Municipal STD/HIV/AIDS Programme in Itacoatiara is based at the Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre (VCT) in one of the municipal’s nine healthcare clinics. Within the VCT, HIV testing and STD/HIV/AIDS workshops are available to the population at large every afternoon. Condoms, contraceptives, anti-retroviral medications for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) and infant formula for newborns of HIV positive mothers are also distributed. All services are provided free of charge by Brazil’s Ministry of Health.
In the face of prevention, the Municipal STD/HIV/AIDS Coordination team organizes campaigns during local festivals, World AIDS Day, Carnaval and other national and international awareness movements. These campaigns focus on disseminating information to the local population through radio broadcasts, interviews with television and newspaper reporters and city-wide marches. Information is always coupled with a mass distribution of condoms and pamphlets at the police barrier at the city’s entrance and, when possible, an exhibition area at the heart of the festival.
The Coordination team is working with youth in two local secondary schools to implement a peer-education prevention program. This program will utilize the skills and interests of young people to provide culturally appropriate prevention messages to their peer groups. Drama, radio and television programmes, sporting events, and artwork will be utilized.
Although not mandatory, the Ministry of Health highly recommends HIV and Syphilis testing during pregnancy. For those who are not tested during their pre-natal exams, Projeto Nascer has been implemented in the maternity ward of the local hospital. This National Programme offers HIV testing for women in labour and anti-retrovirals for both mother and child if a woman tests positive.
The Municipal STD/HIV/AIDS Programme also holds capacity building workshops with local health professionals in the areas of prevention and treatment of STDs and HIV/AIDS.
About the project
About the People
Healthcare and Poverty in Brazil
Healthcare and the Millennium Development Goals
