Ica

Ica is one of the most important cities on the southern coast of Peru. It is also a very important place to do prevention in STI and HIV/AIDS because after Lima (the capital ) and Callao (the largest and most important port) is the third place in Peru in prevalence of HIV/AIDS.
PREVEN project is a urban community randomization trial of STD prevention in 24 Peruvian cities (included Ica) conducted by the School of Public Health of the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia.
The last month I had the opportunity to accompany Carolina Mejia (US Fogarty Fellow 2005) and Mirtha Nunez (Peruvian Fogarty Fellow 2005) in their travel to Ica. They are doing a project with Female Sex Workers and Focus Groups about social desirability in general population in 6 cities.

In this picture we are in a "polleria" (a restaurant where you can find Pollo a la Brasa, a typical peruvian food) in Ica after a Focus Group. The PREVEN team from Ica are seated at front. In the second line are Carolina Mejia , Mirtha Nunez and me.