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People living with HIV, NGOs,
community groups, AIDS service organization, and faith-based organizations
are essential partners in every country's HIV response. They can
affect cultural norms, beliefs and attitudes, pierce denial and stigma, and
create supportive social environments for responding to HIV. Our work
with governments supports active involvement of these groups, encouraging
policy changes where needed, channeling funds directly to affected
communities and to support civil society organization' work, especially with
hard-to-reach high risk groups. Civil society groups play critical
roles in national AIDS programs in South Asia, helping formulate policies
and design and implement programs. the Africa Multi-Country AIDS
Program has funded over 50,000 NGO, faith- and community-based sub-projects.
Communities have closed bars and brothels near schools in Benin, organized
food baskets for people ill with AIDS in Tanzania, and got people talking
about AIDS in towns, villages, schools and homes across the continent.
In Central America, preventing HIV transmission in mobile populations -
migrants, seasonal workers, and sex workers - will help stop the epidemic
from spreading. The Central American Regional HIV/AIDS Project has
used an open, competitive process to select prevention sub-projects with
NGOs that are well-placed to work with mobile populations. the
Caribbean Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS is an active partner, and
the Pan-Caribbean HIV/AIDS Partnership is helping implement the regional
HIV/AIDS project we are funding. They Guyana Government is channeling
our funds to faith-based organizations, unions, NGOs and community based
organizations to provide information, peer education, skills training,
home-based care, voluntary counseling and testing, psychosocial support; and
reaching out to indigenous groups, youth, miners, commercial sex workers,
farmers, orphans, and people with HIV and their families. |
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