STD Management for HIV and AIDS Prevention - Path

Three key problems were identified as contributing to high STD rates in
the Philippines: lack of awareness of the protective effects of condoms
against STDs and HIV, lack of appropriate STD care-seeking behavior,
and lack of access to affordable STD services. [7] USAID provided
incremental funding in January 1996 for PATH to integrate STD
interventions into the ASEP education component. The objectives of the
sub-project were to institutionalize private- and public-sector mechanisms
to:
• Reduce the prevalence and duration of STDs and, in turn, the
spread of HIV among primary risk groups;
• Encourage behaviors which reduce individual risk for contracting
and transmitting STDs; and
• Promote social norms that reduce individual and collective
vulnerability to STDs/HIV. [15]
PATH recommended a focus on STD syndromic management as early as
the first ASEP annual report [30]. The ASEP mid-term evaluation in
1995 strongly recommended that USAID/Manila consider providing
assistance for STD treatment and management in the public and private
sector. By mid-1996 several STD sub-projects were in process under the
ASEP Education component, including syndromic case management
training, public service advertising about STD signs and symptoms,
outreach education and referrals, and the development of alternative
service points for people unwilling or unable to obtain care from the
SHCs. [32] The first initiative was to train public and private health
providers in syndromic case management for STDs because prior to ASEP
few providers in the Philippines had been trained in improved approaches
to STD management. During this training, it became clear that lack of
STD management for HIV and AIDS prevention
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