The Ministry of Health in collaboration with the National AIDS Commission (NAC), development partners and civil society conducted a nationwide HIV and AIDS testing campaign July 17-22. The U.S. Embassy, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), USAID and its implementing partners supported HIV Testing and Counseling (HCT) Week by assisting with planning, logistics, counseling and testing services and by providing monitoring and supervision at the national and district levels.

Working with the Community Health Services Unit (CHSU) at the Ministry of Health, CDC trained laboratory personnel who provided technical oversight and quality assurance during HCT Week throughout Malawi. Besides providing supplies, logistical support and supervision at the district level, CDC is also participating in the technical team that will evaluate and prepare a report on HTC week.

Prior to the HTC week, USAID contractor Population Services International (PSI) sent its Mobile Video Unit to key townships in Lilongwe to encourage Malawians to participate in voluntary counselling and testing. At the testing center in Lilongwe, PSI/Malawi’s Youth Alert! program officers set up a site where they successfully attracted youth in particular for testing. The Youth Alert! Officers offered pre-testing counselling for clients prior to the actual testing and counselling process due to the high turn-out. PSI/Malawi also set up an additional pavilion that focused on the importance of abstinence and being faithful in preventing transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Since most Malawians live in rural areas, Family Health International (FHI) played a crucial role in mobilizing communities at the district level through the District AIDS Coordinating Committees and by engaging volunteers in a door to door campaign. This community outreach was particularly important as other mass media publicity often does not reach rural populations. Another USAID partner, Management Sciences for Health (MSH), provided crucial logistical support at the District level that facilitated the national event.

USAID partners Save the Children and the Umoyo Network assisted HCT week by providing actual HIV testing and counseling services throughout the country. Umoyo Network deployed 172 counselors to testing sites to provide post-test information kits for clients who tested positive. The post-test kits provide information about post-test clubs or community based organizations of people living with HIV such as the National Association of People living with HIV/AIDS in Malawi (NAPHAM), one of USAID’s sub-partners.

Minister of Health, Marjorie Ngaunje, MP. During the USAID supported Hope Kit activity (Bridge Project) just prior to going for HIV/AIDS testing at City Centre during the National HIV/AIDS Testing week launch .

Bridge Project, another USAID partner, demonstrated the "Hope Kit," which leads participants through activities designed to encourage greater understanding of the ABC precepts and to promote positive behavior change. Minister of Health Marjorie Ngaunje participated in a Hope Kit activity, and then set a national example by immediately being tested, an act that was photographed and widely publicized in local newspapers.

HTC Week came about through a concerted nationwide effort aimed at encouraging Malawians to get tested and learn their HIV status. NAC reports that only 15% of the total Malawian population (12 million) are aware of their HIV status, and yet an estimated 930,000 people are HIV positive. With the advent of treatment and programmes to prevent transmission of HIV, testing has become a major part of the prevention and care continuum. HTC Week was designed in line with the National HIV and AIDS Policy to support Malawi's goal of testing one million people by the end of 2007.

Read more about USAID/Malawi's Health, Population, and Nutrition Projects.

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