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Grant aims to help HIV prevention for migrants By BILL KETTLER A $40,000 grant will help two Ashland researchers find out what migrant farm workers know about the virus that causes AIDS. Results from the 18-month study could become a model for a national AIDS prevention program for migrant farm workers, said Debra Topham, who developed the project with Wendy Neander. Topham and Neander teach nursing in Ashland at the Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursing. They hope to use the data they gather to seek federal funds for developing an ongoing HIV education program for migrant-worker communities. "We want to find out from them about the best way to reach them," said Topham. Topham said teaching migrant workers about HIV is important because the rate of AIDS infection among people of color has increased at the same time that the infection rate among the population at large has stabilized. The study also will attempt to determine the incidence of HIV among the Rogue Valley's 2,000 migrant farm workers. Finding out what migrant workers know about HIV is the first step toward teaching them what they need to know, Topham said. Researchers also need to learn more about migrant farm workers' attitudes about HIV to create Spanish-language education programs that address their real needs. Topham said translating English-language HIV materials into Spanish may not necessarily reach migrant workers because many speak regional dialects that differ substantially from standard Spanish. "Terms in one language don't necessarily translate into another language," she said. Topham said many migrant workers have heard of HIV, but they often have misinformation about its long-term effects, how it spreads and how to prevent infection. "They tend to know it's not a good thing," she said. "They tend to think it's more casually transmitted." Funds from the Northwest Health Foundation will pay for an outreach worker to spend time with migrant workers and talk with them about HIV and their attitudes about sex. The outreach worker and nursing students from OHSU's Ashland campus will interview at least 200 workers in Southern Oregon migrant camps. Topham said interviews will begin in the fall. Data from the project will be available sometime early in 2003. Topham said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has developed HIV prevention materials specifically for gay men, intravenous drug users and African-Americans. She and Neander hope their research will provide the data to persuade the CDC to develop an AIDS awareness program for migrant workers. "We see this as a beginning," she said. "We'd like to use it as a base to work with larger (migrant-worker) populations, but that's going to take more money." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.