ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2008) — In an effort to curb the rising rates of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) along the Mexico-US border, a binational team of researchers led by the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have shown that brief but personalized behavioral counseling significantly reduced rates and improved condom use among female sex workers in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
The researchers observed a 40 percent decline in the combined rate of new STIs (including HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and Chlamydia) in the group of female sex workers who received the 30-minute one-on-one counseling intervention, compared to an encounter that was based on educational information only. The study, headed by Thomas L. Patterson, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine, in collaboration with researchers from across Mexico, at UC Davis and Northeastern University, will be published on line September 17 in advance of the November edition of the American Journal of Public Health.
