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MEDIA CENTER U.S. Senators Meet with Population Council Staff and Visit an
NEW YORK and SÃO PAULO (December 2003) — United States Senators Tom Harkin and Ernest Hollings visited the Saúde na Estrada project in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. Harkin and Hollings met with Population Council researcher and physician Juan Diaz, as well as with local staff. Service providers described the program's objectives and activities, which is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and headed by Diaz. This project is an activity of the Council's Horizons Program for Global Operations Research on HIV/AIDS/STI Prevention and Care Saúde na Estrada, which means "health on the road," is designed to meet the sexual health needs of truck drivers. It offers prevention and care services for sexually transmitted infections (STI), including HIV/AIDS. The senators visited the trailer-cum-clinic and were shown educational materials being used to help the truckers. With USAID's Michael Burkly translating, Harkin talked with one of the trucker-clients extensively. The two discussed the trucker's life and work, and the senator also asked for his opinion about the quality of Saúde na Estrada services. The senators asked program staff questions about the numbers of clients who returned for the results of their STI testing, the nationality of the non-Brazilian clients, and the length of time it takes for the tests to come back. Before leaving Senator Harkin thanked the project team for the opportunity to visit and mentioned that he had good news about the project to take home.
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