USAID HIV/AIDS E-Newsletter - August 2005

The Synergy Project, implemented by Social & Scientific Systems, Inc., published this E-Newsletter on behalf of USAID's Office of HIV/AIDS.

This E-Newsletter ended in 2005, but access past editions in the archive section.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of HIV/AIDS is proud to be a partner in The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. This e-newsletter is a regular update from USAID and its partners on programs that prevent and mitigate HIV/AIDS across the developing world.

We encourage you to circulate this publication to colleagues.

Table of Contents

• A. New Partner Spotlight
  • Opportunity International
    
    
• B. News
  • Ambassador Tobias Visits Lesotho and Swaziland
  • Innovative Solutions Offered for Guyana’s Health Worker Shortage
  • Abstinence Campaign Enters Kenya Pop Culture
    
    
• C. Recent Events
  • Kenyan Teachers Living with HIV/AIDS Tell Their Stories
  • Ugandan First Lady Endorses Abstinence Programs
    
    
• D. Publications
  • New Series Focuses on Results from Youth Project
  • Newsletter Describes Antiretroviral Program Strategy in Nigeria
  • HIV Test Kits Procurement Information Document Released
  • Fact Sheets Provide Information on ARV Treatment
  • Lessons from Antiretroviral Treatment
  • Bulletin Focuses on Nonconsensual Sex
  • Results Released for Stigma Field Test
    
    
• E. Online Resources
  • The Synergy HIV/AIDS Resource Center Highlights What’s New

A. New Partner Spotlight

• Opportunity International
  Opportunity International works with indigenous partner organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America to provide small business loans, training, and counsel to half a million clients annually who are in chronic poverty. As part of the Emergency Plan, Opportunity International will partner with Habitat for Humanity International under the “Sustainable Income and Housing for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Africa” project to care for orphans and vulnerable children in Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia. Drawing upon combined experience and indigenous networks, the program will provide: microfinance services to families caring for orphans and vulnerable children; training for orphans and vulnerable children to take over businesses if their parents die; home construction for AIDS-affected communities; training on HIV/AIDS services, financial planning and property inheritance; and a pilot program linking older orphans with mentors who will teach them a trade. Over five years, the project will serve 54,400 orphans and vulnerable children, and provide HIV/AIDS education and training to 64,000 providers and caregivers.

B. News

• Ambassador Tobias Visits Lesotho and Swaziland
  In late July, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Ambassador Randall Tobias, visited Emergency Plan programs in Lesotho and Swaziland managed by USAID, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Peace Corps, and the U.S. Embassies. Ambassador Tobias met with key government officials, U.S. government staff, and leaders of nongovernmental and faith-based organizations in both countries. Ambassador Tobias and Swaziland’s Principal Secretary of Health and Social Welfare both publicly tested for HIV at a Population Services International voluntary counseling and testing center. The pair urged Swazi people to get counseling and testing at free centers across the country.
  
  
• Innovative Solutions Offered for Guyana’s Health Worker Shortage
  Family Health International’s Guyana HIV/AIDS Reduction and Prevention Project (GHARP) is helping alleviate Guyana's health worker shortage by recruiting retired nurses as HIV counselors and testers in antenatal clinics and maternity wards.
  
  
• Abstinence Campaign Enters Kenya Pop Culture
  Population Services International "Nimechill" youth abstinence campaign, the first of its kind in Kenya, has become so popular that the phrase "chilling" has been incorporated into the language and culture. Almost half of youth surveyed had been exposed to the campaign, and they were more likely to believe in their own ability to abstain than were those who had not seen the campaign. More

C. Recent Events

• Kenyan Teachers Living with HIV/AIDS Tell Their Stories
  Internews' Local Voices project in Kenya held a workshop in July in collaboration with the Kenya Association of Positive Teachers (KENEPOTE), the Kenyan Education Department, and the Center for British Teachers. The workshop, which brought together radio journalists and KENEPOTE member teachers, resulted in a flurry of media attention, including four feature stories and talk shows focusing on stigma and discrimination facing HIV-positive teachers.
  
  
• Ugandan First Lady Endorses Abstinence Programs [PDF, 206KB]
  Janet Museveni, the First Lady of Uganda, attended a ceremony announcing the names of eleven CORE Initiative grantees. The new programs will work in the areas of abstinence, being faithful, behavior change, cross-generational and transactional sex, and address the needs of discordant and young married couples. Madame Museveni showed her appreciation for the strong "abstinence" and "being faithful" components of the CORE Initiative grants through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

D. Publications

• New Series Focuses on Results from Youth Project
  Family Health International/YouthNet announces a new publication series, YouthNet Briefs. These two-page summaries highlight YouthNet's global impact by focusing on YouthNet research results, country projects, and technical leadership. Nine briefs are currently available on FHI’s Web site.
  
  
• Newsletter Describes Antiretroviral Program Strategy in Nigeria
  GHAINing Ground, the new newsletter of the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative Nigeria (GHAIN), and two GHAIN partner profiles discuss critical aspects of GHAIN’s antiretroviral program strategy. GHAIN is managed by Family Health International.
  
  
• HIV Test Kits Procurement Information Document Released
  Management Sciences for Health/Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus (RPM Plus) Program published the third edition of HIV Test Kits Listed in the USAID Source and Origin Waiver: Procurement Information Document. This USAID-funded document aims to facilitate the procurement of the HIV tests listed in the USAID Source and Origin Waiver for HIV Test Kits.
  
  
• Fact Sheets Provide Information on ARV Treatment
  The International HIV/AIDS Alliance is developing fact sheets and participatory tools to support community engagement for antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. The aim is to provide nongovernmental and community-based organization staff with tools and information on ARV treatment to support people with HIV/AIDS and their communities. These fact sheets are based on the Alliance’s experience in supporting treatment programs in several countries.
  
  
• Lessons from Antiretroviral Treatment
  Delivering Antiretroviral Therapy in Resource-Constrained Settings examines Family Health International’s experiences with antiretroviral therapy programming in Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda. Among issues discussed are country, community, and site preparedness; referral systems; patient preparation and adherence; patient response to therapy; health management information systems; and scaling up.
  
  
• Bulletin Focuses on Nonconsensual Sex
  Nonconsensual sex is the topic of the latest edition of Family Health International's quarterly health bulletin, Network, now available online. The publication describes the variety of means by which men, women, and children are pressured to have sexual relations that they do not want; and states that nonconsensual sex may be a major contributing factor to such reproductive health problems as unintended pregnancy and its complications, and HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.
  
  
• Results Released for Stigma Field Test
  The demand for stigma indicators has continued to increase, particularly from USAID field Missions and their partner agencies. In response to this need, USAID funded this first step of field-testing and validation of an initial set of stigma indicators at one site in Tanzania, based on selected stigma indicators from the Blue Book (USAID Expanded Response Guide to Core Indicators for Monitoring and Reporting on HIV/AIDS Programs), and the 2004 USAID Stigma and Discrimination Indicator Working Group workshop. The results of this effort are found in this working report.

E. Online Resources

• The Synergy HIV/AIDS Resource Center Highlights What’s New
  The Synergy HIV/AIDS Resource Center, implemented by Social & Scientific Systems, Inc., currently contains more than 3,700 documents on HIV/AIDS project management, research, and reproductive health issues, most of which are available for download. Users can refer to “What’s New in the Synergy Resource Center,” which provides links to new publications, or search the entire online database.