Ten PSI Abstracts Accepted for AIDS Conference

WASHINGTON, DC – Ten abstracts from PSI programs in three different continents have been accepted as presentations at the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain in July. One of them will be an oral presentation.

PSI programs in Botswana, Central America, Nigeria, Romania, Russia, the United States and Zimbabwe have had their abstracts accepted. Four of the ten abstracts are on some aspect of voluntary HIV counseling and testing (VCT) which PSI is now doing in twelve countries.

One of the ten abstracts was accepted as an oral presentation. Zacch Akinyemi of the Society for Family Health, the PSI affiliate in Nigeria, will give the oral presentation titled: "Perceived Faith-Based Invulnerability to HIV Infection Among Female Sex Workers in Nigeria."

The background of this abstract is as follows: "Nigeria is a highly religious society where many people rely on God for all types of protection. Given the obvious link between unprotected intercourse and HIV/AIDS, especially in sex work, it was considered necessary to explore the extent to which sex workers self-assessment of risk depended on their faith."

The other nine abstracts were accepted as poster presentations as described here:

Botswana
Title: "Social Marketing: A Strategy for Creating Acceptability and Increasing Utilisation of Voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing (VCT) Services in Botswana" by Beulah Emig, VCT Manager, PSI/Botswana.

Central America
Title: "An Effective Behavior Change Module for Mobile Populations in Central America" by Karla Ovida, BCC Coordinator, PASMO/Central America.

Nigeria
Title: "A Comparative Analysis of Brothel-Based Sex Work in Cities and 'Junction Towns' in Nigeria and its Implications for HIV Prevention," by Dr. Ronke Ladipo, Society for Family Health.

Romania
Title: "Using Humor for Effective Safe Sex Communication" by Daun Fest, Country Representative, PSI/Romania.

Russia
Title: "Prevention Campaign on the Russian Internet" presented by Daun Fest, PSI/Romania, on behalf of PSI/Russia.

United States
Title: "Multi-Country Study on Trusted Partners Among Youth" by Kim Longfield, Research Officer, Megan Klein, former Research Assistant, both PSI/Washington.

Title: "Motivational Factors for Accessing HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing Services at a Multi-Purpose Integrated Youth Center in Rwanda" Dimitri Prybylski, PSI/Washington.

Zimbabwe
Title: "Evaluation of the Performance of Non-Laboratory Staff in the Use of Simple Rapid HIV Antibody Assays at New Start Voluntary Counseling and Testing Centers" by Ziyambi Ziyambi, Laboratory Science Manager, and Noah Taruberekera, Research and Data Manager, both PSI/Zimbabwe.

Title: "Performance of Different New Start Voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing Service Delivery Models" by Noah Taruberekera, Research and Data Manager, Andrew Boner, Executive Director, both PSI/Zimbabwe.

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