State of Amazonas STI/HIV/AIDS Programme (Programa Estadual de DST/Aids do Amazonas):

The Amazonas State STI/HIV/AIDS Control Programme is based within the Amazonas Tropical Medicine Foundation, but responds directly to the Brazilian National STI/HIV/AIDS Programme. The programme is based at the Tropical Medicine Foundation due to the important access and support offered by the in-patient care facilities of the hospital and permits the Amazonas State STI/HIV/AIDS Control programme to have access to in-patient care and their needs for HIV and AIDS patients from the entire state of Amazonas.

The mission of this programme to control the STI/HIV/AIDS epidemic; reduce the STI/HIV/AIDS incidence in the State of Amazonas; decentralise activities, services and projects to the interior municipalities of the state; and to reduce individual and societal vulnerability to STI/HIV/AIDS.

The State STI/HIV/AIDS Control Programme as the name implies covers the whole of Amazonas state - 62 municipalities. Through the public policy of decentralisation, the state programme has passed financial incentives to the municipalities with support from the national programme to implement the activities promoted by the National STI/HIV/AIDS Programme. Some municipalities have developed more organised programmes than others. The state programme is implementing “Polos” in some strategic municipalities to offer more local support to the surrounding municipalities due to the huge distances and access difficulties. IS contacted the Amazonas State STI/HIV/Aids programme following contact with the State Hansen’s Disease Control Programme (FUAM – an old project partner of IS, Brazil). The Programme was undergoing major changes aimed at the interiorization of the State STI/HIV/AIDS Control Programme. Initial telephone and e-mail contact was reinforced by a number of visits to the Foundation. The Programme director had met IS development worker Nurse Lucy Burghard (Project Princesinha) and had previously had contact with other IS development workers within the interior working within the Hansen’s Disease Control programme.