AFRO-NETS> RFI: Indicators for STDs control to prevent HIV transmission

[Julia Valderrama <juliaval@hotmail.com>]

RFI: Indicators for STDs control to prevent HIV transmission
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Dear All,

I am working on a project proposal on STDs control to prevent HIV 
transmission. In spite of the limited evidence (one trial) provided 
by the Cochrane Review ("Population-based interventions for reducing 
sexually transmitted infections, including HIV infection" Wilkinson 
et al, 2002) this strategy is one of the axis of HIV/AIDS programs.

The setting where I am working is quite similar to the Mwanza one.

When designing indicators for my overall objective "reduced morbidity 
and mortality due to STI and HIV/AIDS", I am seeing incidence and 
prevalence of STI and HIV/AIDS as the indicator, and I really don´t 
see that clearly. And this is why:

- If we assume that the sources of info are going to be the health 
facilities, that is not going to reflect the community. On the other 
hand if we strengthen STI services, we should expect an increase at 
the beginning because of increased quality (MIS, etc.) and more peo-
ple coming. The question is how long that increase could be expected 
for?

On the other hand, in the case of HIV/AIDS, incidence is difficult to 
get and prevalence won't give us an idea because if AIDS care is im-
proved in developing countries, prevalence will increase, not being a 
good indicator of the effectiveness of the intervention, from my 
point of view.

I am not considering a population-based survey to get these data, and 
on the other hand the scarce data I have now cannot be used as a 
baseline.

Could you provide me with orientation of what would be a realistic 
and obtainable indicator for my objective?

Thanks a lot,

Julia Valderrama, M.D., M.P.H.
mailto:juliaval@hotmail.com

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