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 Home Minister & Policy
Minister & Policy
 AIDS preventive strategies for 2006, Health Bureau of Chung-Hua County
●Overview
The AIDS prevention policies for 2006 mainly focus on the health education of AIDS and Sex Transmission Disease (STD) awareness. We emphasize prevention education and vaccination for drug user, and implement clean needle exchange program. In addition, we focus on high-risk communities such as adolescence, homosexual, adult entertainers, illegal prostitutes, customs of prostitutes, drug-users and drug dealers, and etc to provide counseling, screening, prevention education. We also provide STD treatments consultations, and promote screenings among pregnant women. Once a case is detected, he/she will undergo treatment(s) in the appointed hospital(s) and will be monitored and followed throughout the course of treatment.
●Backgrounds
- Since October 2004, Chang-Hua County has implemented “Drug-user and drug dealers AIDS Screening and Control Prevention Measures”, 66.17% of the infected cases were drug-user, and 10.37% were homosexual. The findings indicated that the risk of spreading AIDS HIV infections due to needle sharing among drug-users is much higher and complex.
- About 19% of arrested illegal prostitutes, and their customers are HIV positive. This indicates that we need to work closely with the police to promote the HIV screenings and AIDS prevention educations.
- There is a need to implement effective health education targeting several high-risk communities such as homosexual, prostitutes, drug-users and etc.
- There is great difficulty for health providers to follow and monitor some patients who relocate or change telephone number frequent due to the stigma of disease status. In addition, health education should focus on one-on-one or small group session.
- There are Taiwan Chang-Hua Prisons, Taiwan Chang-Hua Detention Centers and Juvenile Counseling and Education Centers located in our county; we should work with these facilities and promote AIDS prevention measures.
- There is an increasing challenge for AIDS prevention because the growing number of adult entertainment industries, as a result, it is difficult to track sex workers.
- There is an urgent need to promote AIDS education among growing number of mail-order brides from overseas and from mainland China.
- There is a need to collaborate among all divisions of county government body to effectively utilize AIDS prevention resources.
●Objective
- Improve patients consulting, health education and monitoring
- Collaborate with law enforcement to prevent HIV/AIDS spread and early detection among prostitutes, drug-users and drug-dealers.
- Local health clinics implement effective AIDS education and condom promotion among high-risk communities, such as homosexual working in Turkish bath or sex industries.
- Establish patient support groups or provide individual one on one consultation for people living with HIV/AIDS.
- Do screening for more than 65% of non-Taiwanese newlywed brides and their spouses, family members for HIV virus in order to prevent AIDS spread; organize STD and AIDS health education activities.
- Do screening for more than 75% of pregnant women for AIDS.
- Promote AIDS prevention within universities and college institutions.
- Hire licensed psychologists in county health clinics to provide psychological consultation for HIV/AIDS patients
●Specific Aims
- Increase number of AIDS consultation and screening among high risk communities
- The quarantined personnel help cases seeking consultation, health education and follow up in his/her responsible area.
- Collaborate with department of police; provide HIV AIDS virus screening by hospitals to the following offenders: prostitutes, customers of prostitutes, drug-users and drug-dealers.
- For some high risk groups (homosexual bath workers, sex workers), provide unexpected AIDS educations and promote condom use.
- Host patient support group meetings, health education conference or penal discussion health education in Taiwan Chang-Hua Prison, Taiwan Chang-Hua Detention Center, and Juvenile Counseling and Education Center.
- Social workers routine visit, and provide counseling services to AIDS patients in order to encourage patients seeking medical treatment and to be monitored.
- Conduct genital herpes and HIV virus screening among mail-order brides and their spouses and family members.
- Increase AIDS screening among pregnant women.
- Improve the knowledge of AIDS prevention among the public
- Organize AIDS educations during major holidays (Chinese Valentine's day, Mid-Autumn Festival).
- Collaborate with Disease Control Division, Department of Health to organize World AIDS day educations
- Among high-risk behavior youth groups
- Organize seminars among junior high and elementary schools to promote AIDS educations in order to prevent the spread of AIDS among the young populations.
- Work with AIDS prevention organizations within college institutions to provide AIDS education print outs and run seminars to champion AIDS prevention
- Among high risk behavior female groups (arrested illegal immigrants, prostitutes and sex workers)
- Collaborate with agency which regulates eight sex-related industries to advocate AIDS prevention and promote proper condom use
- Collaborate with police, provide AIDS screenings, condoms, health services, and save sex educations to arrested illegal immigrants, prostitutes and customers of prostitutes.
- Provide condoms, health education print out materials and consultation among homosexual bath workers.
- For STD patients
- STD patient identification and notification system by physicians
- Improve the integration and accuracy of physician notification systems, and the collaboration of those medical laboratories that have contract with.
- Work closely with physicians and improve health educations and the collection of case identification
- Sample test systems with contracted STD examination laboratories
- Train STD physicians collecting and submitting patient samples
- Follow up and provide health educations to positive cases
- Provide free screenings
- Set up accurate and precise HIV virus test systems
- Develop screenings among pregnant women
- Champion the health policies education among OB/GY in our county, and control the quality of contracted laboratories that certified by Department of Health, disease control division.
- Promote health educations toward the public and encourage disease screenings.
- 2.6.3 Provide screening services in the following facilities: midwife facilities, health clinics in rural area that have no laboratory capacity, residents without health insurance, clinics that are not link with national health insurance network.
- Assist clinics to notify positive cases and refer patients to appointed hospitals
- Monitor positive cases and screen their spouses
- Educate infected patients safe sex and encourage them seeking medical treatments
- Arrange unexpected AIDS health education sessions in Taiwan Chang-Hua Prisons, Taiwan Chang-Hua Detention Centers, and Juvenile Counseling and Education Centers. Interview new HIV positive cases, and provide AIDS counseling and education services.
- Routine monitor and counsel infected cases, and arrange them to receive needed medical treatments in order to assist them to live a normal life.
- Training of AIDS seeds
To promote AIDS health educations in the grass root level, train and educate AIDS seeds
- Encourage AIDS patients seeking medical treatments, if a patient has no health insurance or if he/she is a low income resident, our agency would assist him/her by waving so-called “Appointment charge”.
- Encourage infected cases seeking psychological consultation through contracted professional psychologists by our agency.
- Provide free condoms, encourage safe sex and condom use throughout the course of intercourse.
- Advocate 24-hour care and AIDS prevention line: 04-7114560, Division chief mobile: 0912-322257, consultant mobile: 0912-128163.
- Organize AIDS prevention activities and press-conferences during Chinese Valentine's day, Mid-Autumn Festival and World AIDS day.
- Issue monthly press-release to provide the public information regarding AIDS prevalence.
●Expected results
- Improve the AIDS knowledge and AIDS prevention among the public, and improve the cares toward infected patients.
- Expand screenings among high-risk communities in order to detect cases at early stage and provide treatments and health educations.
- Assist the functions of support groups to provide infected patients a support network
- Collaborate with various divisions in our agency via AIDS prevention works, utilize various sources within our county government body to effectively promote AIDS prevention and prevent the spread of AIDS infections.
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