Mateo RJ, Lim-Quizon MC; International Conference on AIDS.

Int Conf AIDS. 2002 Jul 7-12; 14: abstract no. WePeC6221.

National Epidemiology Center - Department of Health, Manila, Philippines

BACKGROUND: To track the epidemiology of HIV among female sex workers (FSWs) in the Philippines, the Philippine Department of Health established HIV Serologic Surveillance (HSS) in 1993 and Behavioral Sentinel Surveillance (BSS) in 1997. The HSS is primarily a warning system that is triggered when the critical HIV prevalence of less than 1% is breached. The BSS is intended to guide planners to arrive at evidence-based intervention programs. METHODS: The HSS was conducted in 10 cities. Subjects were FSWs and were categorized as establishment-based (EFSW) and freelancers (FFSW). The desired sample size was 300 per group per city. When possible, sampling areas were randomly selected. Subject enrollment was voluntary confidential. Particle Agglutination was used for screening blood samples and Western Blot for confirmation. The BSS employed the same methods for subject selection. Sample size was 120 per group per city. Subjects were interviewed using a standard questionnaire. RESULTS: HIV prevalence among FSWs was low at 0.06-0.19% among EFSWs and 0.00-0.07% among FFSWs from 1993 to 2001. However, there were cities where HIV prevalence was greater than or equal to 1%. The average numbers of sex partners per week were 2 and 4 for the EFSW and the FFSW, respectively. Majority of FSWs knew that condom use prevents HIV transmission, but, only 34-42% of EFSWs and 25-32% of FFSWs consistently used condoms during sex. CONCLUSIONS: HIV prevalence is low and the transmission is slow among FSWs in the Philippines. This may be due to the FSWs' fewer number of sex partners compared to their counterparts abroad. The "low and slow" scenario for HIV/AIDS in the Philippines is not something that will remain so forever especially with the low consistent condom use rate among FSWs. Especially in cities where the 1% HIV prevalence was breached, AIDS Councils were established, ordinances on 100% condom use were enacted and HSS and BSS were institutionalized.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• Condoms
• Female
• HIV Infections
• HIV Seropositivity
• Philippines
• Prevalence
• Questionnaires
• Safe Sex
• Sentinel Surveillance
• Sexual Partners

Other ID:

• GWAIDS0017880

UI: 102255378

From Meeting Abstracts