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f. The Shindig Stall Owners Association (SSOA) is an association
of unregistered entertainment establishments which are still working on
their legalization. They are working toward women empowerment and
AIDS/HIV prevention among sex workers. The association has initiated
the move to make their member establishments part of ZEA.
g. The Zamboanga City Medical Center HIV/AIDS Core Team
(HACT) provides the medical-technical back-up to the AIDS-Free
campaign.
h. Task Force Buenas which was created for the purpose of enforcing
business, sanitation and health requirements for entertainment
establishments and their entertainers.
i. The Zamboanga City Raiding Team, composed of personnel from
government agencies, conducts raids whenever there is an increase in
STI cases and low smearing rate especially among freelance sex
workers.
Sustainability
The organizations and service units listed above serve not only as the
constituency and effective partners in the AIDS-Free campaign but the
mechanism for the campaign’s sustainability.
The comprehensiveness of the plan insures widescale coverage and
efficiency. The plan includes upgrading of medical facilities in all
barangays; increasing public awareness through massive education
and information campaigns; upgrading the knowledge, attitude and skill
of health personnel and community health outreach workers and peer
educators at HDES; setting up of a systematic and organized behavioral
serologic surveillance system; contacting disease detection through
case finding, contact tracing and reinstating treatment and counseling;
maintaining its own data bank on STIs/STDs and HIV/AIDS;
strengthening linkages with other government agencies , non-government
organizations and other sectors; and ensuring that adequate funding is
available for the program.
All of these interventions have led to a one-of-a-kind locally initiated
AIDS/HIV prevention program that has prevented the onset of AIDS/HIV
in a highly vulnerable city. These interventions have also impacted on
the health and well-being of the vulnerable sectors and have transformed
the city’s health providers and volunteers into effective health service
delivery providers.
66 Kaban Galing