Health Information Center, News and Events

Claire’s (in-country project manager) personal account.

On september 19-20 we went to see how the CENTRE was running. It turned out to be working fine. Some sex workers came by and inquired about some problems. We interviewed them and some did not mind talking about their life.

During the talking, Claire and two CDC workers handed out a questionaire, checking how much the street sex workers knew about STD’s and HIV/AIDS and what to do to help them protect themselves, their customers and their family members. When the girls and women were not certain, we would provided them with information and discussed the various questions/comments/concerns that arose.

In the evening of September 19, Our team members (Claire and the 7 CDC people) took the questionaire and went interviewing sex works at different venues (massage lounges, KTV-Karaoke, night clubs), trying to figure out how much knowledge they had on HIV/AIDS and other STDs.

Successes

1. We divided our team into two groups, 4 members in each group. That night we interviewed 21 girls and women (3 middle-aged women, 18 girls). The interview showed that despite high awareness levels of HIV/AIDS, some respondents ( 2 women and 5 girls ) were still ignorant about the mode of HIV infection, who thought, for example, mosquito bites could pass on HIV/AIDS.
2. We also told the girls and women who worked as prostitutes to spread news about the new CENTRE, and they said they would and they also agreed it was good to set up the CENTRE because it was convenient for them. They especially liked the idea of getting together at the CENTRE for fun, information and for blood testing.

Failures about the session

1. Our questionaire was a bit too long. It contained 50 questions, so it took each interviewee more than 10 minutes, which the interviewees thought was too long. They said 3-5 minutes would be fine.
2. When interviewed, some didn’t give their own opinion; they consulted their colleagues before giving answers. So, to some degree, their answers were not “their” answers.

How to improve

1. Shorten the questionaire form
2. Hold separate interviews