RESUMEN
PIP: The University of Puerto Rico's HIV/AIDS Research and Education Center was founded to promote research and to create programs to help prevent HIV infection through a decrease in risk practices. Specific Center goals are to create and launch research projects to identify the sociocultural factors behind risk behaviors, and to develop innovative educational programs and techniques based upon the research findings. Before the founding of the center, a survey of more than 7000 University of Puerto Rico students found that about 10% of respondents reported always using condoms during sex; male and female respondents reported averages of 6.1 and 2.5 lifetime sex partners, respectively; approximately 30% of the female respondents reported having engaged in anal intercourse; and Puerto Ricans have rigid sexual norms and polarized gender roles. These findings point to the need for meaningful HIV/AIDS interventions. The center has launched a 5-year project to relate contextual variables to the context of sexuality and gender roles in sexual negotiation and sexual practices in Puerto Rico. The center's education program is described.^ieng
Asunto(s)
Síndrome de Inmunodeficiencia Adquirida , Infecciones por VIH , Educación en Salud , Investigación , Asunción de Riesgos , Conducta Sexual , Américas , Conducta , Región del Caribe , Países en Desarrollo , Enfermedad , Educación , América Latina , América del Norte , Organización y Administración , Puerto Rico , VirosisRESUMEN
All articles using the word 'AIDS' that have appeared in the five major daily newspapers in Puerto Rico since 1982 were studied to analyze the way in which AIDS has been presented in the daily press. Virtually all of the articles regarding AIDS, at least those pertaining to Puerto Rico, presented controversies. These were of two kinds. Articles regarding prevalence, incidence, and sources of funding were presented as controversies between the two main political parties of the island. They can be considered extensions of other political arguments between the parties. Those regarding risk factors, prevention, and treatment were presented as controversies between representatives of the people, such as union leaders, and government officials. The victims of AIDS, the homosexuals, drug addicts and hemophiliacs, were generally left out of the controversies as participants. The controversies are generally nonmedical and nonscientific, suggesting that the public perceives insufficient interest on the part of medical and political leaders and is expropriating the problem. That the proposed solutions are directed more toward the victims than the causative organims is also characteristics of past epidemics.