Pacific Magazine Profiles Oceania Society For Sexual Health, HIV Medicine

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 18 Jan 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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Pacific Magazine recently profiled the Oceania Society for Sexual Health and HIV Medicine, which was launched in March 2007 and is "increasingly recognized" among countries in the region as a professional organization representing health care workers. The society has 65 members -- including a number of doctors, nurses, counselors, scientists and lab technicians -- from 10 Pacific Island countries and territories, Pacific Magazine reports. OSSHHM has said that it soon will employ a full-time executive officer based in Suva, Fiji.

OSSHHM President Tenneth Dalipanda said one of the most important objectives of the society is for "professional health care workers in the region to be empowered through increased knowledge and hence to be able to provide better care for their patients." The society also seeks to give Pacific Island health care workers a voice at regional and international levels, he said. "Until now, they have seldom been heard as advocates and advice providers at such a level, yet they should be able to play a real role in the dialogues that take place around issues relating to sexual health care and HIV medicine," Dalipanda said.

OSSHHM in July 2007 published a report, titled "Recommendations for HIV Medicine and Sexual Health Care in Pacific Small Island Countries and Territories." An updated edition is due out early in 2008, Pacific Magazine reports (Pacific Magazine, 1/14).

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