Source<\/strong><\/a>: Corresponsales\nClave<\/a> (<\/a><\/strong>Key\nCorrespondents)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Aware of the seriousness\nof Ecuador\u2019s HIV epidemic and particularly in the historic center of Quito\u2013a\ntourist area with multiple hotspots for sex work offered by men, women and\ntrans people\u2013authorities of the Unidad\nMetropolitana de Salud Centro<\/em> (Metropolitan Health\nUnit of the Historic Center of Quito or UMSC) considered it necessary\nto apply new strategies to connect people to combination prevention. It has\nbeen proposed to extend Counseling for Voluntary HIV Testing aimed\nat people at large, with emphasis on most-at-risk populations, which includes\nmen who have sex with men, as well as male and female sex workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Significant achievements have been possible thanks to this strategy of offering rapid HIV testing to all users of this Health Unit. The number of HIV tests conducted has doubled compared to 2017, with a total of 1,120 tests, of which 662 were conducted at the request of users, 328 were conducted on men, 334 on women, 159 on LGBTI people and 23 on trans women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is important to point\nout that this has also been possible thanks to the quality of care offered to\nkey populations. Users from the LGBTI community receive preferential care, they\ndo not have to schedule\nan appointment through the call center. Right after they are tested for HIV,\nthey go to the Statistics Division so that their medical record is opened, and\nan appointment is booked for that same day. With these changes in the service\nprovided and the use of rapid tests, more users of that community are coming to\nthe health center, which consolidates it as an inclusive health care center\nemphasizing quality and warm services for the LGBTI community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of all tests conducted,\n10 new cases were identified in men who have sex with men, 1 case in a trans\nwoman and 1 case in a man of the general population. All results were confirmed\nand then they were referred to the Comprehensive Care Units for People with HIV\nof hospitals located in Quito. All of them are currently\nreceiving treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tests on Pregnant Women<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rapid tests are also\noffered to pregnant women. In 2018, 299 rapid HIV tests were conducted in the Health\nUnit of the Historic Center of Quito, and no one tested positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conducting tests on\npregnant women has also allowed to reach a larger number of men, as the Free\nMaternity Act of Ecuador\u2019s Ministry of Public Health has been applied, which\nseeks to reach couples and offer them rapid HIV testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Strategy that Works <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Quito, Counseling for\nVoluntary HIV Testing is yielding positive results and is becoming a secondary\nprevention tool that helps diagnose new infection cases, link them to health\ncare units aimed at people with HIV and ensure treatment for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It has also contributed to\nconsolidate evidence regarding the population groups in which this epidemic is\nconcentrated\u2013gay people, other men who have sex with men and trans women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This strategy aims at\nachieving the 90-90-90\ntarget by 2030. Actions have been possible within the framework of an agreement\nbetween Corporaci\u00f3n Kimirina<\/em> and the\nHealth Secretariat of the Metropolitan District of Quito (a signatory city of\nthe Paris\nDeclaration to end the AIDS epidemic), with funding from the Global Fund to\nFight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All articles can be shared and published provided all data regarding the source are cited.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The HIV counseling and voluntary testing strategy is starting to bear fruit in the historic center of Quito, Ecuador\u2019s capital city, where last year the number of tests conducted doubled and timely linkage and treatment for HIV-positive people was achieved. By: Guido Vinicio Cisneros Sierra Source: Corresponsales Clave (Key Correspondents) Aware of the seriousness of Ecuador\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[66,74],"tags":[],"anho":[],"autor":[],"publicado_por":[],"palabras_clave":[],"class_list":["post-7223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-response-aids-tb-malaria","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7223"},{"taxonomy":"anho","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/anho?post=7223"},{"taxonomy":"autor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/autor?post=7223"},{"taxonomy":"publicado_por","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publicado_por?post=7223"},{"taxonomy":"palabras_clave","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/palabras_clave?post=7223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"http:\/\/www.corresponsalesclave.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/unidad.jpg\")
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