{"id":182136,"date":"2015-04-10T17:09:29","date_gmt":"2015-04-10T20:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=182136"},"modified":"2015-05-20T17:16:36","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T20:16:36","slug":"the-first-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/the-first-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"The first to know"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Questionnaire

L\u00c9O RAMOS<\/span>Questionnaire used by the Muriel Project for transvestites and transsexuals who live in S\u00e3o Paulo StateL\u00c9O RAMOS<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

A group of public health researchers has adopted a strategy not commonly used in other fields to disseminate its research findings.\u00a0 After completing a study according to which the prevalence of HIV infection remains high (15.4%) among homosexuals and transvestites who frequent bars, clubs and other venues where they socialize in the central region of S\u00e3o Paulo, the researchers decided to release the study findings to the public and government agencies even before they were published in scientific articles.\u00a0 The initiative is part of the SampaCentro Project, which brings together researchers from the School of Medical Sciences of the Santa Casa, the S\u00e3o Paulo State Department of Health, the University of Campinas (Unicamp), the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP), the Adolfo Lutz Institute, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) and nongovernmental organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as we analyzed the data and organized the information, we held meetings with the individuals who took part in the study, with civil society organizations and with public health workers to alert them to the high infection rates and the need for prevention policies that focus on the group of subjects that were studied,\u201d says Maria Am\u00e9lia de Sousa Mascena Veras, professor at the Santa Casa and coordinator of 2011 – 2012 study that was only published in the journal AIDS and Behavior<\/em> last November. \u201cWe disseminated the findings at scientific events and through social networks,\u201d Veras notes.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons for the rush to present the study is that many of the participants did not know they were infected with the AIDS virus.\u00a0 After the interviews were conducted, the 1,217 men who have sex with men were invited to have their blood drawn for an HIV test.\u00a0 Of this total, 771 agreed to have their blood tested, and 118 of them, or 15%, were found to be infected with the virus.\u00a0 Of this number, 54 stated that they already knew they were HIV positive while the others (64) did not.\u00a0 \u201cThe process of publishing an article can take months.\u00a0 In public health, the sooner we release the information to the subjects of the study and to the public health authorities, the better our chances of influencing decision-makers and developing policies to fight AIDS,\u201d Veras says.\u00a0 The purpose of the 2011-2012 survey was to estimate the prevalence of the HIV virus in the homosexual and transvestite population and determine whether members of this population have access to prevention, whether they have faced discrimination, and which venues they frequent to socialize.<\/p>\n

The study shows that the percentage of infection among the individuals studied in the central region of S\u00e3o Paulo is high (6.4%) among the youngest subjects (men between the ages of 18 and 24) and among lower-income men.\u00a0 Other information contributes to painting a more complete picture: 63% of the subjects interviewed considered themselves white; 57% did not finish high school; 60% said they had been discriminated against in one form or another, and 30% stated they had had sex while under the influence of drugs, which raises the risk of exposure to sexually transmitted diseases.\u00a0 Based on the data obtained, Veras says, we can learn more about this population and act more efficiently and aggressively when designing prevention policies.<\/p>\n

Developments<\/strong>
\nAnother initiative of the group is the Muriel Project, which is designed to \u00a0study how vulnerable female and male transvestites and transsexuals are.\u00a0 Sociodemographic data and data on access to health and education rights and services are evaluated.\u00a0 The project is underway and is expected to end next year.\u00a0 To date, 259 individuals have been interviewed: 77% completed high school and 23% stated that they are carriers of HIV.\u00a0 This and other information is being released in the form of preliminary findings on the project web site<\/a>.\u00a0 Meetings are being held with interested parties, nongovernmental organizations and government agencies to improve the services provided to this group.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lack of accurate information on transvestites and transsexuals is preventing the development of policies more tailored to this group, says Brunna Valim, 40, an activist in the LGBT\/AIDS movement who works for the S\u00e3o Paulo Center of Reference and Advocacy for Diversity.\u00a0 In addition to being a member of the group studied by the Muriel Project, Valim assisted the team of researchers in drafting the questionnaire that was used in several cities in S\u00e3o Paulo State.\u00a0 \u201cThe data up to this point show that transvestites and transsexuals require care that transcends treatment for AIDS once they have the disease.\u00a0 This population needs better basic health services,\u201d Valim adds.<\/p>\n

For Ana Maria Costa, president of the Brazilian Center for Health Studies (CEBES), projects such as the ones carried out in S\u00e3o Paulo are the core of collective health research.\u00a0 \u201cThis is a field of science that is based on the commitment to the right to health,\u201d Costa says.\u00a0 In her opinion, many public health research projects conducted in Brazil usually generate reports, assessments, books and conference proceedings.\u00a0 These types of documents are not always published in scientific journals.\u00a0 This is another factor that helps explain why researchers are opting for other ways to disseminate partial and final findings.\u00a0 To monitor this series of information that skirts traditional periodicals, a group of researchers from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) recently created the National Health Policies Observatory.\u00a0 This entity will track and provide access to studies that were not initially published in the form of scientific articles, but that contain important data for managing public health.<\/p>\n

Projects<\/strong>
\n1.<\/strong> Sexual behaviors and practices, access to prevention, prevalence of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among gay men, transvestites and men who have sex with men (MSM) in the central region of S\u00e3o Paulo (09\/53082-9<\/a>); Grant mechanism:<\/strong> Application-oriented Research Program in Public Policies for the National Health Care System (PPSUS); Principal investigator:<\/strong> Maria Am\u00e9lia de Sousa Mascena Veras (Santa Casa de S\u00e3o Paulo); Investment:<\/strong> R$326,835.63 (FAPESP).<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> Vulnerabilities, health needs and access to health services of transvestites, transsexual and transgender population of the state of S\u00e3o Paulo (13\/22366-7<\/a>); Grant mechanism: <\/strong>Regular line of research project award; Principal investigator: <\/strong>Maria Am\u00e9lia de Sousa Mascena Veras (Santa Casa de S\u00e3o Paulo); Investment:<\/strong> R$330,016.70 (FAPESP).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group releases the findings of AIDS research","protected":false},"author":421,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[166],"tags":[260,256],"coauthors":[740],"class_list":["post-182136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policies-st-en","tag-public-health","tag-public-policies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/421"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182136"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=182136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}