UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé joins a village “community conversation” in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, 800kms from Addis Ababa, 22 April 2009. Credit: UNAIDS/Y.Gebremedhin

Across Ethiopia, community initiatives and local government are coming together to make a difference in the AIDS response. During his official travel to the country, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé visited some of the programmes and projects putting into action the goals of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services.

Adegude Health Center

At the heart of health service delivery in Ethiopia are the government-run local health centres which deliver primary health services such as family health, communicable disease prevention and control, including HIV, and health education.

Michel Sidibé was invited to visit the Adegude Health Center, one of five local health centres in Hintalowagrit District, which provides voluntary HIV counseling and testing services, as well as prevention of mother to child transmission and HIV treatment. Staff working at the centre gave an overview of the HIV services that they deliver in this rural area of Ethiopia to Mr Sidibé and shared their achievements as well as the challenges they face. District health office officials also shared experience of coordinating the multi-sectoral AIDS response, implementation of HIV programmes and service delivery.

Community conversations

Mr Sidibé also had an opportunity to observe one of the “community conversations” in Hiwane Kebele where a cross-section of people—women and men, old and young, people living with HIV, representatives from women’s associations and youth groups join local religious and traditional leaders who have the ability to influence and bring change—regularly come together.

“Community conversations” are taking place across rural Ethiopia and studies show that they can be agents of change in the AIDS response. Once a week or fortnight in villages, or “Kebeles”, up to 70 people gather for a couple of hours with trained local facilitators to exchange their views on a range of social topics.

The village gatherings enable taboos to be aired and misunderstandings about sex and AIDS to be clarified. Traditional practices that may be factors in the spread of HIV are also discussed.

The “conversations” have changed opinion and even translated into action. For example, in some localities groups have condemned early marriage and committed to protecting school girls from discontinuing their education. Others decided to stop female genital cutting in their areas or some participants reached a consensus to avoid practices like widow inheritance. The importance of leveraging AIDS responses to deliver broader development results including gender equality and human rights is a point often emphasized by Mr Sidibé.

The local events also enable issues—such as stigma—to be explored collectively and can be a forum from which community actions are initiated such as HIV prevention, home based care, support for orphans, and increased take up of voluntary counselling and testing.

Facilitators explained how community conversations were first developed by UNDP and piloted from 2003 to 2004 in Ethiopia. The pilot was more successful than expected and federal authorities have since made community conversations a priority strategy for community mobilization across the country.

“The local community conversation I have witnessed is an inspiration. Governments, people living with HIV, civil society leaders, and partners—we all need creative platforms to join in open discussion of the issues and identify ways to move forward together in the AIDS response,” said Mr Sidibé.

People living with HIV in the region

(from left): Hailemariam Kiflay, Chairperson of “Save the Generation Association” gives a pin to Mr Sidibé during his visit with this umbrella network of people living with HIV in Tigray. Credit: UNAIDS/Y.Gebremedhin

The Executive Director also met with the Chairman and Board Members of the “Save the Generation Association Tigray” umbrella network of people living with HIV in Tigray National Regional State. The Network promotes the rights of its members, fight stigma and assists regional efforts to scale up HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services. According to the Federal Ministry of Health an estimated 62,000 people are living with HIV in the region and 63% of those in need of HIV treatment have access to it.

Care and support of vulnerable children

Around 650,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS in Ethiopia. Mr Sidibé visited a care and support project for orphans and vulnerable children and affected families in Mekelle. The project, run by Human Being Association of Brotherhood, began in 2001 to support orphans and vulnerable children and families under difficult circumstances and today provides basic and educational support to over 1000 families caring for orphans and vulnerable children. It also provides vocational training, equipment and seed money to street children and child sex workers to enable them to have their own income and continue their education. Other support services include reuniting street children with extended families and legal support for children to inherit property and pensions of their families who died of AIDS-related illnesses.

The Ethiopian Minister of Health Dr Tedros Adhanom accompanied Mr Sidibé on these site visits.

The government of Ethiopia has set ambitious targets to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and developed a multi-sectoral Plan of Action for 2007 to 2010. This was developed in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders, who shared lessons learned during implementation of the AIDS response. The plan includes detailed activities, targets, cost estimations and a financial gap analysis and represents a major step towards the realization of the ‘Three Ones’ principles.

Mr Michel Sidibé (left) met with HE Girma Woldegiorgis, President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
Credit: UNAIDS/Y.Gebremedhin

The Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé is in Ethiopia to discuss ways of strengthening UN support to the AIDS response in the country.

High on the agenda will be the progress and challenges Ethiopia is facing in scaling up to universal access to HIV, prevention, treatment, care and support. These issues will be discussed in meetings with a range of stakeholders including the Ethiopian authorities, religious leaders, networks of people living with HIV, and senior officials from the African Union Commission.

Whilst in the country Mr Sidibé will also visit projects in Mekelle, a region some 800 km from the capital Addis Ababa. As well as visiting health facilities and care and support projects in the region, he will also meet with local communities to see first hand how universal access is working for people on the ground.

On the final day of the visit Mr Sidibé will meet with the press to present his vision for the future and highlight the urgent need to invigorate momentum and commitment towards achieving universal access and the need for increased investments for countries to reach their goals.

Ajama Kalacha gets ready to plough his field. His community’s support has made it easier for him to cope with HIV Credit: ILO

Ajama Kalacha works hard on his small agricultural plot in Ethiopia’s highlands to provide an income for the extended family he supports. Even though life is tough, Ajama is an optimist - his community treats him well and he believes his prospects for making a living from the land are good. But he was not always so confident.

Seven years ago, Ajama discovered that he had become infected with HIV. At the time stigma and discrimination were widespread in his community and the diagnosis led him to despair. Today Ajama is taking antiretroviral treatment and his health is stable. He has told everyone about his HIV status, and his children and extended family have not been excluded from school or community life as he had once feared.

“My message to others is that living positively with HIV helps you to work harder and leads to a new lifestyle,” he says. “The care and support that I have received has made it much easier for me to cope with my illness.”

This dramatic change in Ajama’s attitude and circumstances came about in 2004 when his agricultural cooperative society in West Oromia State became part of a wider programme to reduce the negative effects of HIV. Funded by the Italian government in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the programme works through the Oromia region agricultural cooperative unions that have members in over 200 agricultural primary societies and 14 transport associations.

To ensure that interventions were at the right level, staff carried out an initial study of HIV knowledge and attitudes, which revealed many misunderstandings. For instance, 51 per cent of those interviewed thought HIV could be transmitted by mosquito bites, 17 per cent by sharing a toilet and 6 per cent by working with an HIV-positive person.

The programme has strong support from government and the national cooperative leadership. It works through a range of training approaches, firstly raising awareness of HIV among leaders and then, through specific workshops, training a network of master trainers and peer educators. They in turn roll out the programme at community level, helping to challenge discrimination, change behaviour which may risk exposure to HIV, and set up care and support services for members and their families.

Easily identified by their bags and T-shirts that both bear the slogan, ‘HIV does not discriminate, but people do,’ the peer educators work with the whole community visiting homes, speaking at local gatherings and involving key individuals such as religious leaders. They use an HIV manual and distribute popular information materials that have been translated into the local languages of Afaan Oromo and Amharic. They also help to provide care and support services including treatment.

In Ajama’s cooperative, misunderstandings about HIV, together with the stigma and discrimination directed against those affected, have gradually reduced as a result of this steady work. The positive environment and encouragement he has received gave Ajama the courage to speak out about his status and to have hope for the future.

“I set my mind to starting a new life,” he says. “The care and support for people living with HIV and AIDS has helped greatly to reduce its impact on our lives.”

The Ethiopian Business Coalition against HIV/AIDS (EBCA), GTZ Engineering Capacity Building Program, the World Bank Institute and the Rapid Results Institute implemented a pilot programme to achieve rapid HIV results within businesses in Ethiopia in 100 days.

Implementing ambitious long-term HIV programmes in the workplace can be a daunting undertaking for a business. In Ethiopia, partners have piloted a management tool designed to restructure policies into a series of short-term goals and produce concrete results quickly.

The Ethiopian Business Coalition against HIV/AIDS (EBCA), GTZ Engineering Capacity Building Program, the World Bank Institute and the Rapid Results Institute implemented a pilot programme to achieve rapid HIV results within businesses in Ethiopia in 100 days.

In March and April 2008, 180 staff from twelve companies, together with six members of EBCA, attended workshops in “Rapid Results Approach” (RRA) for their business HIV programmes. The trainings gave the company teams—management and employees—an opportunity to identify HIV focus areas, set ambitious targets and develop work plans.

Tadesse Tekallign of Crown Cork and Can Share Company is in no doubt about the value of the initiative. “The pilot project is creating new best practices on HIV in Ethiopia’s private sector.” “The companies are finding their own solutions and tackling challenges quickly to produce very effective results,” Tekallign continued.

Achieving their goals

In March and April 2008, 180 staff from twelve companies, together with six members of EBCA, attended workshops in “Rapid Results Approach” (RRA) for their business HIV programmes.

In the three months following the training EBCA gave outreach support to the companies by regular telephone calls, weekly meetings and assistance with setting up partnerships with non governmental organizations and associations who could provide services to the companies.

The companies’ team commitment was impressive and progress substantial. All companies reached, and exceeded, their goals within the time period.

Sustainability

Following the completion of the pilot, a workshop on experience-sharing and sustainability was held for all companies who had participated. EBCA is continuing its follow up and technical support to ensure companies continue their HIV programme implementation.

Next round

EBCA, together with the African Capacity Building Foundation, the World Bank Institute and the Rapid Results Institute have recently launched the second round of Rapid Results in 10 additional Ethiopian companies:

1. Coffee Processing
2. Comet Transport
3. Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation
4. Faffa Food Share Company
5. Kokeb Flour and Pastas
6. National Alcohol and Liquor
7. National Mining
8. National Motor Corporation
9. Nyala Insurance

Rapid Results Approach (RRA)

The Rapid Results Approach (RRA) is a management tool designed to give quick and meaningful results within 100 days or less. By focussing on results it aims to jumpstart major change efforts and assist implementation. RRA is based on the belief that the best way to build capacity is to provide people with real-time support while they work to achieve an ambitious short-term goal that is of critical importance to the organization.

In addition to achieving short-term results and teaching people how to work together, the approach aims to create grassroots capacity to carry out large-scale, complicated changes. It can help companies take their most challenging long-term HIV/AIDS projects and restructure them into a series of short-term initiatives that produce real results quickly. The approach also offers business leaders a new set of skills and expertise in coaching, team building and achieving measurable results quickly.

“UNAIDS is very happy to support the Rapid Results Initiative in Ethiopia. This approach of formulating an action plan with a sharpened focus on producing early results, can be a great model for the private sector and can help engage them better in the AIDS response," said Regina Castillo, Chief Private Sector Partnerships, UNAIDS.

The approach has also been used successfully in HIV and reproductive health programmes in Kenya, Sierra Leone and Madagascar.

H.E Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of the
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

African Ministers of Finance and Development Planning concluded their 3-day meeting with a statement reaffirming their commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa by 2015. The statement called for Governments to act urgently to scale up public sector investments in infrastructure, agriculture, health and education. Special mention was made to fulfill the commitment made in the Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other related infectious diseases to allocate 15 per cent of their budgets to health issues.

As part of national strategies to achieve the MDGs and other internationally agreed goals, the Ministers  resolved to increase domestic spending on the MDGs, ensuring that resources from debt relief, revenues from natural resources and other sources are channeled towards meeting the Goals.

In an address to the conference, UNAIDS Executive Director  Dr. Peter Piot indicated that AIDS increases demands for state spending on health and welfare and at the same time depletes the workforce, reducing governments’ ability to raise taxes, in some countries by 20 per cent.

UNAIDS Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot
indicated that AIDS increases demands for
state spending on health and welfare and
at the same time depletes the workforce,
reducing governments’ ability to raise
taxes, in some countries by 20 per cent.

In several countries most affected by AIDS, there is a need for additional fiscal space for the AIDS response. How this space is created will depend on the individual situation of each country.  Dr Piot emphasized the urgent need to change the eligibility criteria for overseas development assistance to reflect the extent of the epidemic and not base it on income levels alone. This will enable highly affected low and middle-income countries to benefit from favorable funding conditions and mechanisms.

The meeting of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Finance, which took place from 31st March to 2nd April, addressed new challenges facing Africa in the 21st century, and the new international economic environment within which they must be tackled.

Participants will focus on issues such as
poverty reduction, state capacity to
promote and guide development, rising
oil prices and the global credit crisis.

The first session of the Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development is taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 31 March to 2 April 2008.

The conference will also mark the start of a yearlong commemoration of the Economic Commission for Africa’s 50th anniversary. As part of the celebrations, participants, including selected African Heads of State and Government and other eminent persons, will be invited to reflect on the theme of the Conference, ‘Meeting Africa’s New Challenges in the 21st Century’.

The conference will begin with an overview of recent economic and social developments in Africa which will include the state of the global economy, overall growth performance in Africa, trends in social development in Africa and the continents economic prospects for 2008.

UNAIDS Executive Director Dr
Piot will highlight ways in
which the AIDS response can
be stepped up in Africa.

Participants will go on to focus on issues such as poverty reduction, state capacity to promote and guide development, particularly in relation to providing adequate infrastructure and social services, rising oil prices and the global credit crisis.

Four high-level thematic debates will be held on; HIV: keeping the promise; Empowering the poor; Growth, employment and poverty; and Climate change and development.

UNAIDS Executive Director, Dr Peter Piot will lead the debate on HIV and highlight that in spite of efforts to address the epidemic in Africa, AIDS remains a significant challenge which is hampering efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Dr Piot will highlight ways in which the AIDS response can be stepped up in Africa and will outline some specific recommendations for sustainable financing.

Photo credit: G. Bekele

UNAIDS has provided technical assistance
in developing the National plan of action
for the forthcoming years.

Continuing with the web special series “Making a difference”, which focuses on the work of UNAIDS staff at country level, www.unaids.org talks to UNAIDS Country Coordinator in Ethiopia, Roger Salla Ntounga, his role, his motivations and how one document is making history in the AIDS response.

Roger has been the UNAIDS Country Coordinator in Ethiopia for over a year now. He manages an office of 22 staff members who help him provide services at country-level and coordination among government, civil society and the ever growing number of stakeholders involved in the AIDS response in the country.

The response to the AIDS epidemic remains a priority issue on Ethiopia’s development agenda. UNAIDS helped the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (HAPCO) – which is the equivalent of the National AIDS Commission of the Ethiopian government -  to put in practice the ‘Three Ones’ principles. UNAIDS has also provided technical assistance in developing the National plan of action for the forthcoming years. “We had meetings with the Head of the HAPCO office almost every day, to go chapter by chapter. And now that the document is finished, it has come back to us for editing, printing and distribution. All partners coming to Ethiopia will have to develop their programmes based on this document,” says Dr Salla Ntounga.

“It’s a good document. Partners and donors are happy, everybody is happy with it. It will improve the AIDS response because it gives a kind of road map to everyone. It will reduce duplication of efforts and increase complementarily, which is to the benefit of the people”.

Special emphasis is required on
strengthening the capacity of civil society.

In the past two years, strong leadership on the part of the Ministry of Health has resulted in visible strengthening of the response to AIDS, in particular within the health sector. However, Special emphasis is required on strengthening the capacity of civil society. “This is a country with a very strong government and old administration where the space for civil society is not so easy, so we do everything we can to reinforce them and make sure that they are the beginning and the end of everything we do.”

Roger meets every 15 days with the network of people living with AIDS to try to point out the problems they are facing, regarding the legislation or access to resources, or building a regional network. “We are making good progress. We are recognised as really giving a voice to civil society and we have a lot of respect from a broad range of civil society members. They see us as doing very concrete things, like for example helping them to complete a plan of action or making sure that the network of people living with HIV is organised”.  UNAIDS also tries to strengthen the capacity of the civil society at all levels to plan, manage and implement AIDS responses. “We have also organised training on resource mobilisation, negotiation and leadership skills. So we try to organise targeted training to improve the capacity of those who are working on AIDS”.

One of the major challenges still remaining in Ethiopia is scaling up services and reducing stigma and discrimination in rural areas. “Last week I went to the Somali region, which is far from the capital and they really benefit from outside help. I was able to talk to the two associations of women living with AIDS, and I was really able to see how hard their lives are”.

“It is a region where there is still a lot of denial, and coming out is a kind of social death. These women are openly positive about their status in a region where the traditional leaders are saying ‘it is not possible in this region for anyone to be HIV positive’. So they are really very courageous”.

Sentinel surveillance data indicate that in
rural areas, where about 85% of Ethiopians
live, the epidemic is on the rise.

Sentinel surveillance data indicate that while in urban areas the epidemic appears to have been stabilized, in rural areas, where about 85% of Ethiopians live, the epidemic is on the rise. Girls are especially likely to be exposed to HIV, due to harmful traditional practices, early marriage (often cross-generational and often ending in divorce), female genital mutilation, abduction and violence.

 “We had supported one of the groups with an income-generating activity. They had bought a laundry machine, but when people realised that it was operated by people living with HIV they stopped going to the laundry. People did not even come back to fetch their clothes”.

UNAIDS is also a member of the Donors’ HIV/AIDS Forum, a subforum of the National Partnership Forum, that is instrumental in ensuring donor coordination. “I have a regular meeting here with the Donors’ HIV/AIDS Forum, which meets every 15 days. We have to be there to make sure there is harmonisation and alignment of all the donors, and there are many here, towards the government’s national plan”.

Despite the many challenges still remaining, UNAIDS has played a crucial role in supporting the coordination of the AIDS response in the country. “I think our greatest achievement is the confidence we have been able to create about this office. It is really considered by all partners as reliable, in helping them to get access to technical support and knowledge”.

“I like working in the country office because it makes you much closer to people living with HIV, and you really see why you are involved. For example when I go to Somali region and meet those young women who have been able to come out in a very, very hostile environment, I see their courage, I see their eyes— and I also see their tears. This shows me that we still have a very long way to go!”

All photo credit: UNAIDS/P.Virot

In her address to the Assembly, UNAIDS
Deputy Executive Director Mrs. Deborah
Landey commended the organization for
its success in bringing women’s issues to
the forefront, particularly the focus on
preventing mother to child transmission
of HIV.

The Organisation of African First Ladies against HIV and AIDS (OAFLA), held their 5th Extra Ordinary General Assembly in Addis Ababa from 1-2 February. More than 30 first ladies (or their high level representatives) attended the assembly which was held in parallel with the African Union Summit.

The First Lady of Ethiopia and Vice President of OAFLA, Madam Azeb Mesfin, (also hosting meeting) gave the opening remarks, followed by the First Lady of Zambia and Acting OAFLA President Maureen Mwanawasa, who urged her peers to reflect on the successes of the organization whilst planning carefully for future activities.

In her address to the Assembly, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Mrs. Deborah Landey commended the organization for its success in bringing women’s issues to the forefront, particularly the focus on preventing mother to child transmission of HIV. Ms. Landey stressed that significant progress had been achieved in Africa over the last decade both in terms of providing anti-retroviral treatment and in reducing HIV prevalence.

The Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS also encouraged the First Ladies to continue their campaigns to mobilise action on preventing new infections which still remains a major challenge. “HIV prevention is the key. It is a highly complex issue. But this can be no excuse for inaction. We still have a long, long way to go to make HIV prevention truly effective,” said Ms Landey.

Elizabeth Mataka, UN Special Envoy in
Africa, urged OAFLA members and leaders
at all levels to take collective responsibility
in the fight against AIDS.

Elizabeth Mataka, UN Special Envoy in Africa, urged OAFLA members and leaders at all levels to take collective responsibility in the fight against AIDS. “Each of us here today has considerable influence and we have a duty and a responsibility to lend our support, advocacy and leadership to build on the extraordinary response that has so far been mobilised.”

The UN special envoy also encouraged the organisation to seek support from major funding organisations such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund Board is now requesting countries to take particular note of the vulnerabilities of women and girls as they put forward their proposals for Round 8 funding and beyond.

At least 57 countries have a crisis shortage of health workers; 36 of those are in Africa. Photo credits: UNAIDS

One of the major constraints to addressing both the AIDS epidemic and global access to essential health care services is the serious shortage of healthcare workers. WHO, UNAIDS and the US President’s Emergency Pan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) are launching innovative new guidelines to help strengthen health systems through ‘task shifting’ among the health workforce, at the first ever Global Conference on Task Shifting being held in Addis Ababa from 8-10 January 2008.

‘Task shifting’ is the name given to a process of delegation whereby tasks are moved, where appropriate, to less specialized health workers. By reorganizing the workforce in this way, task shifting presents a viable solution for improving health care coverage by making more efficient use of the human resources already available and by quickly increasing capacity while training and retention programmes are expanded. Several countries are already using task shifting to strengthen their health systems and scale up access to AIDS treatment and care.

The Global Conference on Task Shifting will convene health ministers and other senior government officials, opinion leaders, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations from both industrialized and resource-constrained countries.

Read more on the conference on WHO’s web site

From left: Caroline Ryan, Director of Technical Leadership, Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director, Tedros Adhanom, Minister of Health, Ethiopia and Betru Tekle, Director General HIV Prevention and Control Office, Ethiopia.
Credit: UNAIDS/P.Wiggers

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, 4 December 2011—The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Office (FHAPCO) in collaboration with partners released today a National Accelerated Plan for Scaling up Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) Services in Ethiopia.

“With this plan, we are stepping up our efforts to reach many more millions of mothers and babies with PMTCT services in the next four years to ensure an HIV-free generation in our nation,” said Ethiopia’s Minster of Health, Dr Tedros A. Ghebreyesus, who launched the plan at a press conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, together with UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé.

Ethiopia is one of 22 sub-Saharan African countries that succeeded in reducing their national rate of new HIV infections by 25% between 2001 and 2009. According to government estimates, approximately 1.2 million people were living with HIV in Ethiopia in 2010, including about 90 000 pregnant women. Despite progress in the national HIV response, only 9.3% of pregnant women who are eligible for HIV services are currently receiving them.

In June 2011, Ethiopia signed on to the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive. As part of this effort, the national plan aims to boost both the rapid expansion and delivery of integrated quality maternal and child health and PMTCT services. The overall aim is to ensure that all pregnant women living with HIV have access to HIV prevention and treatment services, and that new HIV infections among children are eliminated by 2015.

“UNAIDS believes that children everywhere can be born HIV free,” said Mr Sidibé. “Through this new national plan, I am confident that Ethiopia will succeed in eliminating new HIV infections among children and keep their mothers alive.”

The national accelerated emergency plan includes three targeted objectives:

• Reaching 90% of pregnant women with access to antenatal care services
• Ensuring that all pregnant women have access to delivery by a skilled attendant.
• Providing antiretroviral prophylaxis to at least 80% of HIV-positive pregnant women.

“We commend the Government of Ethiopia for its commitment towards the Global Plan for the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive. PEPFAR has a long history of working hand in hand with the Government of Ethiopia and we continue to support Ethiopia’s commitment to the scale up of PMTCT,” said Ambassador Eric Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

The plan further identifies the crucial role of male partners in scaling up programmes to stop new HIV infections among children in Ethiopia. The Federal Ministry of Health through FHAPCO, in collaboration with UNAIDS, WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and PEPFAR, will implement a national communications campaign aimed at influencing public knowledge, attitudes and opinions around male involvement for the prevention of new HIV infections in children.

As part of this national campaign, a one-minute television public service announcement on male involvement, released today, will be widely aired throughout the country in the four main national languages via various media channels.