This study confirms what most HIV professionals have suspected for several years: HIV prevalence is low in the camps.
The [him] moderator cannot understand why their findings have made camp health authorities switch to opt out mandatory HIV testing of pregnant women. Can anyone explain this?
[him] moderator
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Low seroprevalence of HIV and syphilis in pregnant women in refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border
K Plewes MD *, T Lee MPH&TM *, L Kajeechewa *, M M Thwin *, S J Lee PhD, V I Carrara MD PhD *, F Nosten MD PhD * and R McGready MBBS PhD *
* Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU), PO Box 46, Mae Sot, Tak 63110; Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medical Research Unit (MORU), Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand; Centre for Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, Churchill Hospital, Oxford OX3 7LJ, UK
Correspondence to: Dr Rose McGready Email: rose@shoklo-unit.com
Refugee and migrant populations are considered to be at high risk from sexually transmitted infection (STI) and HIV. Cross-sectional surveys for syphilis and HIV were conducted in antenatal clinics (ANCs) on the Thai-Burmese border. In Mae La refugee camp, the seroprevalence of HIV and syphilis were 0.2% (one of 500) (95% CI 0–1.1) and 0% (0 of 404) (95% CI 0–0.9) in 1997; and 0.4% (two of 500) (95% CI 0.1–1.4) and 0.4% (three of 741) (95% CI 0.1–1.2) in 2005, respectively; syphilis seroprevalence in migrant women in 2005 was 0 (0 of 234) (95% CI 0–1.6). The seroprevalence was lower than that reported from surrounding ANCs for Thai or Burmese women. Focus group discussions with HIV-negative and -positive pregnant refugee women established that aspects of Karen culture and isolation (geographical and political) had a significant protective role from HIV and STI. This survey has resulted in programmatic changes in services to pregnant women in this area.
