Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy,
Tran Phuc Hau,
Nguyen Vu Thuong, Do Hong Ngoc, Ha ba Khiem
Pasteur Institute in HCMC
HIV sentinel
surveillance has been improved in
The Pasteur Institute in HoChiMinh City (PIHCMC) and the Center for Preventive Medicine in Vinh Long province were selected as study sites for the period 10/1998–11/1999. Data were collected by direct interview and HIV testing with client consent.
The sample number was 500. Clients £ 30 years old accounted for 62% of the sample. Sixty-four percent of clients (n=252) of the PIHCMC, where voluntary testing is mostly anonymous, came by themselves; 74% clients (n=248) of confidential testing site in Vinh Long province were referred by different sources, mainly from the governmental "Social Evil" program and were therefore less voluntary. In Vinh Long, injecting drug users (IDU) and sex workers (SW) were reported in 28% and 10.5%, respectively, significantly different from the rates of 2.4% and 1.3% at the PIHCMC site. At the PIHCMC, 25% came from other places, and in Vinh Long 16%. Vinh Long showed an HIV prevalence of 7.6%, PIHCMC prevalence was 1.2%, and aggregate prevalence of two sites was 4.4%. HIV seropositive was significantly associated with injecting drug use after controlling for "testing site" (adjusted OR 5.8). More than half of IDU (54%) shared needles, 83% did not consistently use bleach for their equipment. About 8% of male clients were homosexual or bisexual. Among the male clients who were sexually active in the last year, 66.4% had two or more partners in the last 12 months. This rate was observed in 52.6% among female clients. Among subjects who reported having had sex with male partners, 13.4% (n=97) had anal sex, no one used condoms consistently for this practice. Twenty-two percent of men consistently used condoms with SW, and 13% with female partners who were not SW. Clients came back for testing results in 97% but only 43% received post-test counselling.
Anonymous testing needs to be strengthened to encourage more people to come to voluntary testing sites. High risk behaviors among these clients and lack of counselling require further efforts on pre and post-test counselling at voluntary testing sites