HIV/AIDS

The vast majority of West Africa 's estimated 250 million people are still uninfected by HIV and require large scale prevention efforts. Population mobility, high-risk behaviors, armed conflict, and poverty are factors for potential explosion of the epidemic if prevention measures are not taken. Highest risk groups for infection are normally the most economically productive, and cause the greatest hardships in families and communities when they fall sick. More than 6,000,000 people are already living with HIV/AIDS in the region and need access to care and treatment. Strategic HIV/AIDS prevention and care interventions will improve the well-being of the people of West Africa and mitigate the negative socio-economic impact of AIDS.

PROJECTS

The Action for West Africa (AWARE-HIV/AIDS) Project implemented by Family Health International (FHI) supports the replication of policies and improved technical and managerial models within the region to contribute to a reduction of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV infections.

This program seeks to improve technical, managerial, and leadership skills among parters to leverage other donor resources to multiply the reach of USAID/WA-sponsored best practices to a much larger population. This includes the harmonization of treatment protocols and behavior change messages across borders for more efficient regional cooperation. Regional coordinating bodies, including the networks of Parliamentarians for Population and Development, and of journalists and religious leaders, are engaged to better advocate for broad-based support for policy change and promotion of HIV.AIDS services. With USAID/WA investment, regional governments and other donors will be able to share and follow improved program models, communication approaches, and surveillance information to mitigate the spread of HIV/AID infection and to guard against HIV drug resistance across the region.

The Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus (RPM Plus) Project implemented by Management Sciences for Health (MSH) improves the availability of quality health commodities for priority HIV interventions. The objective of RPM Plus interventions is to enable country programs in the region to effectively forecast, purchase and manage their own commodities. RPM Plus provides technical leadership in pharmaceutical management to key programs, such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), by disseminating specialized management tools required for commodity-related decision-making. Specifically, targeted governments and programs are taught to better forecast, procure and manage critical HIV commodities. Similarly, countries learn to identify problems in commodities management and develop corrective measures to prevent ruptures in clinical care, including coordination of donor support.

The West Africa program also addresses country-specific pharmaceutical management issues. For example, the Mission funded RPM Plus to help the Ministry of Health in Niger address information gaps and strengthen the pharmaceutical management information system, work with regional medical stores managers to build their capacity in supply management, and establish a national cadre of pharmaceutical management trainers.

To sustain capacity-building efforts within the region, USAID/West Africa works with the AWARE and the RPM Plus programs to strengthen the capacity of two key regional training institutions, the Institut Régional de Sante Publique (IRSP) in Benin and the Centre Africain d'Etudes Supérieures en Gestion (CESAG) in Senegal . The goal of the assistance is to equip the institutions' staff with both technical knowledge in pharmaceutical management and the training skills to be able to share that knowledge with others. In addition, activities have included building skills on how to develop the necessary training materials and curricula.A key accomplishment was the development of pharmaceutical management training materials in French. To enhance their new skills, IRSP and CESAG trainers have helped facilitate RPM Plus-led workshops on pharmaceutical quantification and logistics management.