scholarly journals Are the Philippines ready for HIV self-testing?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesal Gohil ◽  
Emmanuel Baja ◽  
Tyrone Reden SY ◽  
Ernest Guevara ◽  
Charlotte Hemingway ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Alliances ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
Self Testing ◽  
Metro Manila ◽  
Sex With Men

Abstract Background: The Philippines is facing a rapidly rising HIV epidemic among young men who have sex with men (MSM). Testing rates among young populations is poor. HIV self-testing (HIVST) is a promising strategy to address this testing gap. Exploring the perceived acceptability, feasibility and programmatic challenges of HIVST among key informants and target users is an important first step.Method: A qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). We interviewed 15 key informants involved with HIV testing programs or policies and 42 target users in six FGD in Metro Manila. We held separate discussions with high socio-economic MSM (n= 12), urban poor MSM (n=15) and transgender women (TGW) (n= 15). Results were analysed using a thematic framework approach.Results: MSM and TGW welcomed the convenience and privacy HIVST could provide. They preferred an inexpensive accurate blood-based kit attained from reputable sites. Key informants at national and local level equally welcomed HIVST but identified a number of policy and regulatory issues. Both groups articulated the challenge of enrolling those who test reactive using HIVST to further testing and treatment in an environment characterised by acute stigma around HIV.Conclusions: HIVST was found to be highly acceptable to target users and was welcomed as an additional testing approach at national level. Strategic alliances are now needed between stakeholders to proactively deliver a patient-centred HIVST program that could provide an effective, safe means of increasing testing coverage in this escalating context.

scholarly journals Are the Philippines ready for HIV self-testing?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesal Gohil ◽  
Emmanuel Baja ◽  
Tyrone Reden SY ◽  
Ernest Guevara ◽  
Charlotte Hemingway ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Alliances ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Step Method ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
Self Testing ◽  
Sex With Men

Abstract Background: The Philippines is facing a rapidly rising HIV epidemic among young men who have sex with men (MSM). Testing rates among young populations is poor. HIV self-testing (HIVST) is a promising strategy to address this testing gap. Exploring the perceived acceptability, feasibility and programmatic challenges of HIVST among key informants and target users is an important first step. Method: A qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). We interviewed 15 key informants involved with HIV testing programs or policies and 42 target users in six FGD in Metro Manila. We held separate discussions with high socio-economic MSM (n= 12), urban poor MSM (n=15) and transgender women (TGW) (n= 15). Results were analysed using a thematic framework approach. Results: MSM and TGW welcomed the convenience and privacy HIVST could provide. They preferred an inexpensive accurate blood-based kit attained from reputable sites. Key informants at national and local level equally welcomed HIVST but identified a number of policy and regulatory issues. Both groups articulated the challenge of enrolling those who test reactive using HIVST to further testing and treatment in an environment characterised by acute stigma around HIV. Conclusions: HIVST was found to be highly acceptable to target users and was welcomed as an additional testing approach at national level. Strategic alliances are now needed between stakeholders to proactively deliver a patient-centred HIVST program that could provide an effective, safe means of increasing testing coverage in this escalating context.

scholarly journals Is the Philippines ready for HIV self-testing?

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesal Gohil ◽  
Emmanuel S. Baja ◽  
Tyrone Reden Sy ◽  
Ernest Genesis Guevara ◽  
Charlotte Hemingway ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Alliances ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
Self Testing ◽  
Framework Approach ◽  
Sex With Men

Abstract Background The Philippines is facing a rapidly rising HIV epidemic among young men who have sex with men (MSM). Testing rates among young populations is poor. HIV self-testing (HIVST) is a promising strategy to address this testing gap. The study’s purpose was to explore the perceived acceptability, feasibility and programmatic challenges of HIVST among key informants and target users. Method A qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). We interviewed 15 key informants involved with HIV testing programs or policies and 42 target users in six FGD in Metro Manila. We held separate discussions with high socio-economic MSM (n = 12), urban poor MSM (n = 15) and transgender women (TGW) (n = 15). Results were analysed using a thematic framework approach. Results MSM and TGW welcomed the convenience and privacy HIVST could provide. They preferred an inexpensive accurate blood-based kit attained from reputable sites. Key informants at national and local level equally welcomed HIVST but identified a number of policy and regulatory issues. Both groups articulated the challenge of enrolling those who test reactive using HIVST to further testing and treatment in an environment characterised by acute stigma around HIV. Conclusions HIVST was found to be highly acceptable to target users and was welcomed as an additional testing approach at national level. Strategic alliances are now needed between stakeholders to proactively deliver a patient-centred HIVST program that could provide an effective, safe means of increasing testing coverage in this escalating context.

scholarly journals Are the Philippines ready for HIV self-testing?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesal Gohil ◽  
Emmanuel Baja ◽  
Tyrone Reden SY ◽  
Ernest Guevara ◽  
Charlotte Hemingway ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Alliances ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Step Method ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
Self Testing ◽  
Sex With Men

Abstract Background: The Philippines is facing a rapidly rising HIV epidemic among young men who have sex with men (MSM). Testing rates among young populations is poor. HIV self-testing (HIVST) is a promising strategy to address this testing gap. Exploring the perceived acceptability, feasibility and programmatic challenges of HIVST among key informants and target users is an important first step. Method: A qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). We interviewed 15 key informants involved with HIV testing programs or policies and 42 target users in six FGD in Metro Manila. We held separate discussions with high socio-economic MSM (n= 12), urban poor MSM (n=15) and transgender women (TGW) (n= 15). Results were analysed using a thematic framework approach. Results: MSM and TGW welcomed the convenience and privacy HIVST could provide. They preferred an inexpensive accurate blood-based kit attained from reputable sites. Key informants at national and local level equally welcomed HIVST but identified a number of policy and regulatory issues. Both groups articulated the challenge of enrolling those who test reactive using HIVST to further testing and treatment in an environment characterised by acute stigma around HIV. Conclusions: HIVST was found to be highly acceptable to target users and was welcomed as an additional testing approach at national level. Strategic alliances are now needed between stakeholders to proactively deliver a patient-centred HIVST program that could provide an effective, safe means of increasing testing coverage in this escalating context.

scholarly journals “It would be easier, you can do it anywhere, anytime”. Is the Philippines ready for HIV self-testing?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesal Gohil ◽  
Emmanuel Baja ◽  
Tyrone Reden SY ◽  
Ernest Guevara ◽  
Charlotte Hemingway ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Alliances ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Step Method ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
Self Testing ◽  
Sex With Men

Abstract Background: The Philippines is facing a rapidly rising HIV epidemic among young men who have sex with men (MSM). Testing rates among young populations is poor. HIV self-testing (HIVST) is a promising strategy to address this testing gap. Exploring the perceived acceptability, feasibility and programmatic challenges of HIVST among key informants and target users is an important first step. Method: A qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). We interviewed 15 key informants involved with HIV testing programs or policies and 42 target users in six FGD in Metro Manila. We held separate discussions with high socio-economic MSM (n= 12), urban poor MSM (n=15) and transgender women (TGW) (n= 15). Results were analysed using a thematic framework approach. Results: MSM and TGW welcomed the convenience and privacy HIVST could provide. They preferred an inexpensive accurate blood-based kit attained from reputable sites. Key informants at national and local level equally welcomed HIVST but identified a number of policy and regulatory issues. Both groups articulated the challenge of enrolling those who test reactive using HIVST to further testing and treatment in an environment characterised by acute stigma around HIV. Conclusions: HIVST was found to be highly acceptable to target users and was welcomed as an additional testing approach at national level. Strategic alliances are now needed between stakeholders to proactively deliver a patient-centred HIVST program that could provide an effective, safe means of increasing testing coverage in this escalating context.

scholarly journals Reclaiming On-Site Upgrading as a Viable Resilience Strategy-Viabilities and Scenarios through the Lens of Disaster-Prone Informal Settlements in Metro Manila

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 10600
Author(s):  
Juan Du ◽  
Stefan Greiving
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Informal Settlement ◽  
National Level ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Community Resilience ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Disaster Mitigation ◽  
City Development ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Metro Manila

The Philippines is argued as the only Southeast Asian country where informal settlers’ communities have been self-organized and produced discernible impacts on the country’s urban policies. As one of the high risk countries, fifty percent of the country’s informal settlements are located in danger and disaster-prone areas. However, informal settlement upgrading has not reached its significance in disaster mitigation and community resilience building. At the national level, on-site upgrading is not established in disaster risk management or climate change adaptation strategies, which explains the lack of strategic approaches for local implementation. Metro Manila serves as a suitable backdrop in this sense to study informal settlement upgrading under the condition of high risk and rapid urbanization with a high civil society engagement. This study investigates the underlined reasons why upgrading strategically falls short in addressing disaster mitigation and community resilience building. Theoretically, it questions what on-site upgrading is about. Empirically, two hazard-prone informal settlement communities within Metro Manila are examined with their different risk profiles, community development needs and resilience priorities. The core issues of upgrading are, therefore, differentiated at the settlement level with communities’ innate socio-economic and eco-spatial features over time. Meanwhile, the paper heightens the necessity of tackling on-site upgrading at the settlement level and articulating settlements’ spatial correlations with the city development, so as to sustain upgrading outcomes. In addition, this study attempts at setting up a range of scenarios conditioned with COVID pandemic fallout. It endeavors to provide another facet of how to deal with adaptation and resilience. This includes the urgent strategy shift in the housing sector and its financial sustainability, innovative mechanisms to manage uncertainty and risks, lessons for post-COVID planning, etc.

Online privacy behavior among youth in the Global South

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-30
Author(s):  
Jan Michael Alexandre Cortez Bernadas ◽  
Cheryll Ruth Soriano
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Global South ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Online Privacy ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Metro Manila ◽  
Indirect Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, it explores the extent to which diversity of connectivity or the connection through multiple internet access points may facilitate online privacy behavior. Second, it explains the diversity of connectivity-online privacy behavior link in terms of information literacy. Design/methodology/approach Situated in the context of urban poor youth in the Philippines (n = 300), this paper used a quantitative approach, specifically an interview-administered survey technique. Respondents were from three cities in Metro Manila. To test for indirect relationship, survey data were analyzed using bootstrapping technique via SPSS macro PROCESS (Hayes, 2013). Findings Urban poor youth with diversified connection to the internet engaged in online privacy behavior. The more the youth are connected to the internet through diverse modalities, the more this fosters cautious online privacy behavior. In addition, information literacy explained how diversity of connectivity facilitated online privacy behavior. It suggests that differences in online privacy behavior may result from the extent of basic know-how of navigating online information. In the context of the urban poor in the Global South, the youth are constantly negotiating ways to not only connect to the internet but also acquire digital skills necessary for protective online behaviors. Originality/value To date, this is one of the few papers to contribute to conversations about online privacy among youth in the Global South. It broadens the literature on social determinants of online privacy behavior that is crucial for designing policy interventions for those in the margins.

scholarly journals Hollowing out national agreements in the NHS? The case of “Improving Working Lives” under a “Turnaround” plan

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-159
Author(s):  
Ian Roper ◽  
David Etherington ◽  
Suzan Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Performance Management ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Employee Relations ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
The Face

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider the resilience of a national-level initiative (Improving Working Lives (IWL)) in the face of local-level initiative (Turnaround) in an NHS hospital and compare to Bach and Kessler’s (2012) model of public service employment relations. Design/methodology/approach Case study research consisting of 23 in-depth semi-structured interviews from a range of participants. Findings The principles behind IWL were almost entirely sacrificed in order to meet the financial objectives of Turnaround. This indicates the primacy of localised upstream performance management initiatives over the national-level downstream employee relations initiatives that form the basis of the NHS’ claim to model employer aspiration. Research limitations/implications The case study was conducted between 2007 and 2009. While the case study falls under previous government regime, the dualised system of national-level agreements combined with localised performance management – and the continued existence of both Turnaround and IWL – makes the results relevant at the time of writing. Originality/value Some studies (e.g. Skinner et al., 2004) indicated a perception that IWL was not trusted by NHS staff. The present study offers reasons as to why this may be the case.

scholarly journals Indigenous Aeta Magbukún Self-Identity, Sociopolitical Structures, and Self-Determination at the Local Level in the Philippines

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent S. Balilla ◽  
Julia Anwar McHenry ◽  
Mark P. McHenry ◽  
Riva Marris Parkinson ◽  
Danilo T. Banal
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Kinship Ties ◽  
Sociopolitical Structures ◽  
Sufficient Food

The Indigenous Aeta Magbukún maintain a primarily nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle in their forested ancestral lands. Through the continued encroachment of non-Indigenous populations, the Aeta Magbukún persist at a critical level. Finding it increasingly difficult to sustain their traditional livelihoods, they must engage in informal commerce to procure sufficient food throughout the year. This work explores the basis of self-identity, traditional kinship ties, evolution of sociopolitical organisation, and the developing political options that sustain the small and vulnerable Indigenous population. Despite recent tentative sociopolitical developments, securing cultural protection requires greater effort in developing political communication and representation at a local and national level. In doing so, the Aeta Magbukún can meet their basic needs, secure traditional cultural knowledge, and are able to influence their own development during a time of relatively rapid acculturation within the mainstream Philippine societal complex.

scholarly journals Acceptability of saliva-based HIVST among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TGW) in Russia: a qualitative study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Meylakhs ◽  
Anastasia Meylakhs ◽  
Arsen Davitadze
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Hiv Infection ◽  
Transgender Women ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Testing Strategies ◽  
Self Testing ◽  
Sex With Men

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic increased actuality of HIV self-testing (HIVST). Men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TGW) in Russia are highly stigmatized populations vulnerable to HIV infection and hard to reach with facility-based testing strategies. The study explored acceptability of HIV self-testing (HIVST) among these key groups in Russia. 32 semi-structured interviews with MSM and 3 TGW women from 5 Russian cities who underwent HIVST were conducted. Benefits of HIVST included ease of use, convenience and confidentiality. Confidentiality helped participants to avoid stigma related to their identity thus empowering them in conditions of high stigmatization of LGBTQ-people. Participants expressed concerns about accuracy of saliva-based HIVST and lack of counseling in case of reactive result. Our results suggest high acceptability of HIVST among Russian MSM and TGW and indicate that increase in HIVST uptake could be facilitated by popularization of HIVST and addressing the participants’ concerns.

scholarly journals Exploring Community Engagement in Climate Change Planning: The Case in Samoa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Annie Saofaiga Toailoa
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Research Findings

<p>Coastal communities within Pacific Island Countries (PIC) are vulnerable due to the rising and volatile nature of the sea as a result of climate change. Adaptation strategies and community-based approaches have increasingly been advocated for by environmental organisations, policy makers and researchers. Community-based approaches have, in turn, begun to promote the values of meaningful community engagement and integration of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) into adaptation planning. This research explores the extent to which community engagement and TEK is utilised at both the national and local level adaptation planning in Samoa. An assessment of policies and plans assesses the national level context, whilst the community level context was explored through a study of the coastal village of Tafitoala.  A qualitative approach is employed in which semi-structured interviews were used to collect the perspectives of community members, government personnel, and Non-governmental Organisations (NGO) staff to provide a range of viewpoints.  Using Samoa as my case study, the research findings demonstrated that community ideologies and values, and community governance structures determine the efficacy of adaptation programmes. Findings also emphasised that although there is a vast amount of TEK used within local communities, documentation and verification of TEK is required in order for it be integrated more effectively into adaptation planning. Whilst the need for meaningful community engagement had already been identified by government and NGO agencies as a priority for effective adaptation, with agencies currently implementing strategies to encourage its integration, more is required for strategies to be strongly embedded into the practices of local communities.</p>

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