Increased incidence of HIV/AIDS in Latinos warrants effective social marketing messages to promote testing. The Tú No Me Conoces (You Don't Know Me) social marketing campaign promoted awareness of HIV risk and testing in Latinos living on the California-Mexico border. The 8-week campaign included Spanish-language radio, print media, a Web site, and a toll-free HIV-testing referral hotline. We documented an increase in HIV testing at partner clinics; 28% of testers who heard or saw an HIV advertisement specifically identified our campaign. Improved understanding of effective social marketing messages for HIV testing in the growing Latino border population is warranted.

Patient-centered nutrition education and counseling can improve the health of HIV-positive persons. This article describes the development and implementation of a Spanish-language, community clinic-based, individually tailored, and culturally specific nutrition curriculum for HIV-positive Latinos living on the U.S.-Mexico border. Important considerations made in serving this population include low acculturation to U.S. culture, monolingual Spanish speaking, cross-border mobility, and dietary behaviors influenced by access to culturally preferred regional foods, some of which may not be nutritionally optimal. Challenges to curriculum implementation and lessons learned for replication of the curriculum in other clinical settings are discussed.

Effective HIV prevention interventions with HIV-positive persons are paramount to stemming the rate of new infections. This paper describes an HIV-clinic-based demonstration project aimed at decreasing patient HIV-transmission risk behaviors and sexually transmitted infections. Systematic, computer-assisted assessment of patient risk aided primary care providers in delivering prevention messages. Patients at greater risk were referred to an HIV Prevention Specialist for behavioral counseling. Patients completed a computerized behavioral staging assessment to self-identify risk behaviors and readiness to change behaviors and counseling messages were individually tailored based on computer assessment. Challenges to project implementation: primary care provider buy-in, patient privacy concerns during risk assessment, and low participation in behavioral counseling. Forty-six percent of persons completing a risk assessment (2,124) were at risk for HIV transmission. Of 121 patients who scheduled counseling appointments, 42% completed at least one session. Despite challenges, successful implementation of a clinic-based prevention intervention is feasible, particularly with attention to patient and provider concerns.

2009) Preventing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted infections and reducing HIV-stigmatizing attitudes in high-risk youth: Evaluation of a comprehensive community-based and peer-facilitated curriculum, Vulnerable Children and Youth Comprehensive prevention programs for youth are needed to reduce transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and address HIV-stigmatizing attitudes effectively. We evaluated a behavioral riskreduction curriculum with high-risk youth in the United States. Participants in the fivesession course were recruited through a community-based agency in San Diego, California. Participants completed a demographic survey and pre-/post-test. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests are provided for the 286 youth with complete pre-/posttests. Participants were 37% Latino, 21% non-Latino white, 17% African American, 25% > one ethnicity/other and mean age 16 years. Pre-/post-self-reports indicated significantly (p≤0.05) increased HIV/STI knowledge; ability to refuse sex without a condom; intention to use a condom with new partner; and decreased stigmatization of HIV-positive people. Significant improvements in knowledge and intention to practice safer sex were noted and HIV-related stigma was significantly decreased, indicating the curriculum's potential with ethnically diverse youth in other regions and global contexts.