Poster

While HIV/AIDS continues to be a pressing society concern, not all members of society are impacted the same. In other words, certain segments of the population are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and require a special focus to address their group specific needs. The posters in this session pertain to policy issues, efficacy of HIV intervention programs, and educational strategies targeting underserved populations. As an aside, some of the studies are longitudinal in their study design, which allows one to evaluate whether an intervention that is efficacious in the short-term has lasting impact on attitudes and behaviors. Such studies are not common and thus are of great importance. The following issues are explored among the various posters within this session: (1) role of the government and community based organizations with respect to HIV treatment, care, and support in India and Japan; (2) efficacy of several, innovative programs (e.g., social marketing campaign, Girls Holla Back) in terms of improving knowledge levels about HIV resources available, increasing condom use among youth, and retaining HIV+ patients in a primary care setting; and (3) examination of how care givers and health care workers are instructed to teach those groups of persons vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.

Session Objectives: 1. Articulate the role of society/government, including policies and legislation, regarding HIV treatment and care issues among vulnerable groups of persons residing in India and Japan. 2. Recognize the importance of ethnicity for not only the development of intervention programs and social marketing campaigns, but also for recruiting individuals to participate in these programs. 3. Evaluate both short-term and long-term effectiveness of several innovative interventions targeting at-risk youth.