Universal access to appropriate HIV programmes for men who have sex with men and transgender people is a crucial part of achieving universal access as a whole.

Ahead of the International Day Against Homophobia (17 May), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched a new UNAIDS Action Framework on Universal Access for Men who have Sex with Men and for Transgender People. The Framework sets out how UNAIDS will facilitate and support universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for men who have sex with men and transgender people.

Acknowledging that ‘business as usual’ is no longer a viable response to the HIV-related risks of these groups, the Framework shows that collective responses to HIV in the men who have sex with men and transgender populations are failing. The problem has either been ignored – with insufficient data and analysis – or commitment and resources allocated to HIV programming in these populations fall far short of what is required.

“The failure to respond effectively has allowed HIV rates to reach crisis levels in many communities of men who have sex with men and transgender people,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Efforts to reverse this crisis must be grounded in human rights and underpinned by the decriminalisation of homosexuality,” he added.

The approach taken in the Framework aims to reduce the incidence of HIV everywhere, while protecting the health and rights of not only men who have sex with men and transgender people, but also their female sexual partners and the rest of the population. Responding to HIV among marginalized groups is therefore not just important in and of itself, it is often one of the most effective strategies to reduce heterosexual spousal transmission and to avert larger heterosexual epidemics. Universal access to appropriate HIV programmes for men who have sex with men and transgender people is a crucial part of achieving universal access as a whole.

“If we are going to make universal access for sexual minorities a meaningful reality, we must work towards ending homophobia and transphobia. We must address the legal and policy barriers,” said Jeffery O’Malley, Director of UNDP’s HIV group.

The Framework sets out how the UNAIDS Secretariat and its Cosponsors will work towards universal access for these often marginalized groups through three objectives:

(1) To improve the human rights situation for men who have sex with men and transgender people. In his statement to the International AIDS Conference in August 2008, the UN Secretary-General outlined the dangers of not protecting the legal and human rights of sex workers, drug users, and men who have sex with men, pointing out that in countries where such rights are enshrined in law, the result is fewer infections, less demand for antiretroviral treatment and fewer deaths.

(2) To strengthen and promote the evidence base on men who have sex with men, transgender people and HIV. Better quality data, from as wide a range of sources as necessary, is needed to inform, develop and advocate new policies and programmatic responses. UNAIDS and its Cosponsors will build upon their current work with partners to strengthen the knowledge base.

(3) To strengthen capacity and promote partnerships to ensure broader and better responses for men who have sex with men, transgender people and HIV. Ensuring sufficient capacity in intergovernmental, governmental and nongovernmental organizations to appropriately address diverse sexuality and HIV is vital if men who have sex with men and transgender people are to get universal access to HIV-related services. The Framework sets out how the scale-up of capacity can be achieved.

The joint UNAIDS programme, utilizing the strengths of all its Cosponsors, is committing itself to interagency UNAIDS action to improve global and national HIV-related efforts for men who have sex with men and transgender people.

An interagency working group will develop a system to monitor and evaluate the approach and work proposed in the Framework, develop the strategic approach of UNAIDS and its Cosponsors’, develop, monitor and evaluate detailed workplans, periodically review and evaluate their strategic approach and report on the activities undertaken.

The five booklets in UNESCO’s Good Policy and Practice in HIV & AIDS and Education aim to help education sectors in developing countries mount an effective response to HIV.

The negative impact of HIV is felt on education systems and schools, learners and teachers around the world from children dropping out of school to care for sick parents to the loss of teachers in their most productive years. As part of efforts to support governments, donors, NGOs, education planners and managers, school governing bodies and teachers in dealing with the implications of the epidemic and to share knowledge on effective responses, UNESCO has developed a best practice series entitled Good Policy and Practice in HIV & AIDS and Education.

The booklets in the series are broad in scope and highlight issues and lessons learned in a range of settings in developing countries. They examine policies, programmes and activities by a variety of actors and draw lessons from case studies and a review of both published and unpublished literature.

Credit: Copyright 2003 Harvey Nelson, Courtesy of Photoshare.

Out-of-school learners are also a focus of the series. For example, in Zambia, an interactive radio programme which provides access to education in an informal setting, for children who are unable to attend school is featured. Produced by the Ministry of Education Broadcasting Services Department, the weekday shows integrate life skills and HIV prevention into lessons on literacy, mathematics and other subjects. Drama, songs and participatory activities are used to introduce the lessons. The project, operating in 450 sites, covers 180,000 children, most of them orphans, and almost 50% of them girls.

UNESCO hopes that a best practice in one educational institution, ministry, country or region can be adapted and used effectively elsewhere.

The first booklet provides an overview and examines policy and programme responses. It also focuses on the need for more data and research around education sector responses to the AIDS epidemic.

The second has learners at its centre: their rights to education, protection, knowledge and skills, and care and support. One aspect examined is the exploration of successful prevention programmes for young people. In Namibia, for instance, the My Future is My Choice project has operated for over 10 years promoting AIDS prevention in schools. It aims to protect young people from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancies and alcohol and drug abuse, by encouraging them to think for themselves and take responsibility for their future and their own development.

Credit: Copyright 2005 Netsanet Assaye, Courtesy of Photshare

In booklet three, attention is turned towards educators and their role. It discusses their needs for training, care and support and the importance of their conduct in ensuring safe and secure learning environments. The fourth concentrates on the importance of strategic partnerships at multiple levels (i.e. global, regional, and within countries), of involving people living with HIV, and of working with children and young people. The fifth and final booklet in the series explores effective learning and quality education. It summarizes factors contributing to effective learning in the context of AIDS education and highlights issues to consider in developing and adapting relevant learning materials.

For UNESCO, Good Policy and Practice in HIV & AIDS and Education is a ‘living’ resource which will be expanded and refined as new knowledge and strategies become available. This series is considered a tool, a stepping stone, to support the education sector’s full engagement in national responses to the AIDS epidemic.

It has long been suggested that concurrent sexual partnerships are one component responsible for creating sexual contact networks conducive to the rapid spread of HIV. Recently the idea has gained prominence and momentum, with national HIV programmes beginning to plan prevention campaigns targeted at reducing concurrent partnerships. However, in both the scientific and programmatic communities, research and discussion about concurrent partnerships and their role in the spread of HIV have been impeded by lack of clarity about the definition and appropriate indicators of concurrency.

On 20-21 April 2009, the UNAIDS Reference Group on Estimates, Modelling, and Projections convened a meeting to discuss the definition and measurement of concurrent sexual partnerships in Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting brought together a group of 35 experts, representing those working on large-scale cross-sectional surveys, longitudinal cohort studies, researchers using sexual behaviour and concurrent partnership data, and monitoring and evaluation specialists.

The main aim of the meeting was to reach consensus on what should be measured in large-scale surveys to best capture the amount of concurrency in a population and to monitor the impact of programmes. Topics covered included a history and overview of concurrent partnerships and HIV, comparisons of the definitions, methods, and questions used to measure concurrency, the reliability of sexual behaviour data, the measurement of concurrency in large cross sectional surveys and in longitudinal cohort studies.

At the close of the meeting, meeting participants reached consensus that the definition of concurrent partnerships should be “overlapping sexual partnerships where sexual intercourse with one partner occurs between two acts of intercourse with another partner”, and recommended that the point prevalence of concurrent partnerships in the adult population, that is the proportion of adults aged 15-49 reporting more than one ongoing sexual partnership at an instant in time, be used as the main indicator of concurrent partnerships in a population. This measure best distinguishes between concurrency and rapid serial monogamy.

Additionally, the Reference Group discussed other useful indicators of concurrent partnerships in a population (including the cumulative prevalence of concurrent partnerships in the adult population over a 1 year period), and made recommendations for further research into the methods of measuring concurrent partnerships and sexual behaviour, the relationship between concurrency and HIV transmission, and social norms around concurrent partnerships.

A set of specific recommendations on how to capture the proposed indicator will be provided to the UNAIDS Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group and to the implementing organizations of large household surveys by end of April, 2009. A full meeting report will be available by end of May, 2009.

UNGASS Guidelines on Construction of Core Indicators for 2010 reporting.

To assist Member States in preparing and submitting their 2010 Country Progress reports, UNAIDS has released the new UNGASS Guidelines on Construction of Core Indicators for 2010 reporting.

In adopting the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, Member States committed themselves to regularly report to the United Nations General Assembly on the progress made in their country’s response to the AIDS epidemic. The UN Secretary-General assigned the UNAIDS Secretariat the responsibility of developing the reporting process, accepting reports from Member States on his behalf, and preparing a regular report for the General Assembly. Member States submit Country Progress reports to the UNAIDS Secretariat every two years.

The new guidelines provide essential information on the composition of core indicators for reporting including the purpose of the indicator, methods of measurement and a summary interpretation of the indicator. The guidelines are also intended to ensure consistency of information across countries for accurate global progress analysis.

At country level, the progress reports are used to inform programmatic decisions, review national strategic plans and to inform resource mobilization efforts such as the development of proposals for the Global Fund. Furthermore, the country reports have also helped countries identify their gaps and weaknesses regarding data monitoring and evaluation. Country reports also enable open discussion and assessment of progress between the governments, civil society and other key stakeholders engaged in the national AIDS responses.

The data submitted in the next round of reports will be used by UNAIDS to monitor the progress made by countries towards achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care in 2010 and eventually in reaching the Millennium Development Goal of arresting and halting the spread of HIV by 2015. The data will also form the basis of a number of regular reports including the UN Secretary-General’s report to the General Assembly, the UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS epidemic and the HIV section of the annual Millennium Development Goals monitoring report.

The 2010 reporting round

While there have been no changes to the UNGASS indicator set from the 2008 round, a number of changes have been made to the reporting process. Amongst these are the new reporting deadline of March 31st 2010, and the development of a system that allows on-line submission of reports through the UNGASS reporting web site. It is anticipated that these two changes will allow for more rigorous data analysis at country level prior to submission, and will streamline the cleaning and reconciliation of all data received.

The new UNGASS Guidelines on Construction of Core Indicators for 2010 reporting are now available electronically - printed copies and translations into French, Spanish and Russian will follow shortly.

Please direct all queries on UNGASS reporting to: ungassindicators@unaids.org.

WHO and UNAIDS resource kit for writing Global Fund round 9 HIV proposals

The resource kit has been designed to focus on the essential points which are presented in a user friendly way. The information is structured in a way that echoes the development of a proposal.
Credit: www.who.int

As applicants prepare their proposals for the next round of HIV funding, Round 9, UNAIDS and WHO have jointly developed an online resource kit to provide guidance in planning and writing strong Global Fund proposals.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) is a financial mechanism that provides grants in support of evidence-informed, technically sound and cost-effective programmes for the prevention and treatment, care and support of persons infected and directly affected by HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. By 1 December 2008, it had signed grant agreements worth US$ 10.2 billion for 579 grants in 137 countries around the world.

The aim of the fund is to direct money to areas of greatest need so that a real difference can be made in peoples’ lives. As a part of this process hundreds of pages of technical documentation on how to design programmes or write a grant proposal have been developed by a range of technical experts. The challenge for the country partners writing their proposals is sifting through these myriad long and complex guidelines.

To simplify this, the resource kit has been designed to focus on the essential points which are presented in a user friendly way. The information is structured in a way that echoes the development of a proposal. It is aimed to be a practical tool that country partners can use with ease.

People are already finding it useful. “In the jungle of technical guidance for writing proposals that’s out there, communicating the unique relevance of this tool is the biggest challenge. However, country teams across this region have already begun to benefit from this important resource.” said Geoff Manthey, UNAIDS Global Fund regional focal point, Asia Pacific Regional Support Team.

Compilation of guidance

The content of the resource kit is a compilation of existing guidance developed by different technical agencies including UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Health Organization. In preparation of the kit, the team reviewed Global Fund feedback on previous proposals and identified recurring weakness areas so that the content of this kit could address these.

“This toolkit is the result of close collaboration between WHO, UNAIDS, and other UN and civil society partners,” said Mazuwa Banda, Medical Officer, World Health Organization.

“We hope that it is widely distributed and, most importantly, used; and we will continue to work together to improve it in response to feedback from its users.”

It includes a number of technical guidance notes on cross-cutting issues relevant in the design of any HIV programme. These include gender, human rights and law, sexual minorities and social change communication. A number of notes on health systems strengthening are also included as well as guidance on specific intervention areas including HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

There are also a number of practical tools included on managing the proposal development process including a planning matrix and costing tool.

Know your epidemic

Country data is vital to knowing a country’s epidemic in order to design an effective response. Statistics on HIV interventions, links to latest epidemiological fact sheets and other useful country information are also included in the resource kit.

Finding support

In addition to sharing guidance, the online kit includes a “Finding support” section which gives direction to assistance offered through WHO and UNAIDS as well as useful contacts and a list of focal points. While the response to and coordination of technical support to countries should be first addressed at country level within the UN theme group, WHO and UNAIDS can offer support by facilitating the proposal development process and providing general or specific technical guidance, to ensure that the proposal is technically sound and meets the other requirements. UNAIDS has established “Technical Support Facilities” across the world that help match countries technical assistance needs with most well suited technical assistance in the form of individuals and/or companies.

UNAIDS and the Global Fund

Given the complementary strengths and shared commitment to the global AIDS response, Global Fund and UNAIDS collaborate to accelerate progress towards universal access to HIV treatment, prevention, care and support services.

By offering a range of support to country partners to help applicants prepare strong proposals for Global Fund resources UNAIDS, as the United Nations coordinating programme on HIV, also helps to make the resources of the Global Fund work. UNAIDS also supports the Global Fund in monitoring and evaluating the performance of its grantees through strengthening the capacity of principal recipients and sub-recipients to report on grant implementation.

This collaboration is leading to real results on the ground as Nancy Fee who works in Indonesia as UNAIDS Country Coordinator notes: “As Indonesia has seen, a successful application to the Global Fund results in a grant that can make a huge difference to a country’s AIDS response.”

“Given all the guidance that exists on the application process, a user-friendly web-based tool such as this one, structured to compliment proposal development, can enable a country to navigate the complexities of the process and develop a strong proposal,” she added.

The Joint Annual Programme Review process is a vital tool in the global effort by governments and development organizations to ‘make the money work’ Credit: UNAIDS/P.Virot

HIV prevalence in Kenya has halved in a decade – a dramatic and sustained decline rarely seen elsewhere in Africa. The Government aims to continue this level of progress by ensuring that the national response to the epidemic is as coordinated and collaborative as possible, and that funding is spent effectively.

In recent years, as national responses to and funding for AIDS in many countries have become more complex – with more activities, stakeholders and donors than a few years ago – coordination has become an even bigger challenge.

Kenya decided to support coordination by conducting Joint Annual Programme Reviews, which bring together a wide range of people working on AIDS to take a comprehensive look at the overall national response. The Joint Review process is led by the national Government and involves participation at all government levels, as well as by civil society organizations, networks of people living with HIV, local and district authorities, and international donors and organizations.

“Joint Reviews of National AIDS Responses: A Guidance Paper”.

With the lessons learned from the Joint Review processes in Kenya and other countries, UNAIDS has developed a new publication entitled “Joint Reviews of National AIDS Responses: A Guidance Paper”. It aims to help countries conduct Joint Reviews and improve coordination, implementation and funding effectiveness among the many stakeholders involved in national responses.

Well carried out Joint Reviews provide a truly nationally-led forum for sharing information, achievements, shortfalls, challenges and emerging issues, and assessing how well efforts and spending are aligned in meeting the goals of the national AIDS strategy.

Kenya has undertaken in 2007 the 6th consecutive Joint Review of its national response and the process has become a valued method for building bridges and coalitions among the many groups involved in the AIDS response.

With the lessons learned from the Joint Review processes in Kenya and other countries, UNAIDS has developed a new publication entitled “Joint Reviews of National AIDS Responses: A Guidance Paper”.

Kenya’s 2007 Joint Review lasted two and a half months and involved hundreds of participants – not a quick or easy process, but well worth the effort. The Review is widely recognized by those working on AIDS as a platform for bringing together data from a range of sectors and levels, including surveillance and service delivery data, as well as qualitative data collected at the community level. The 2007 Review was more inclusive than ever, with participants from all 71 districts and nine regions of the country. The findings and recommendations were used to revise the way the country measures the results of AIDS programmes, and also to inform planning at district and regional levels. The effort of doing regular participatory joint reviews has resulted in more alignment, collaboration and commitment among the many organizations involved in the Kenyan AIDS response.

Anatomy of a Joint Review

The new Guidance Paper gives specific advice for conducting a successful Joint Review. However, just as every country’s AIDS epidemic and response is different, the Joint Review process in each country will differ according to the national political environment, health and social policies, infrastructure, economic development and other factors. Nonetheless, the Guidance Paper lays out several principles which should help build a strong Joint Review process in any country, including:

1. national ownership
2. inclusion and participation
3. commitment to results – participants must agree from the outset to subscribe to the recommendations of the Review
4. impartiality
5. evidence informed
6. enhancing national planning
7. sensitivity to gender and human rights.

The Joint Annual Programme Review process is a vital tool in the global effort by governments and development organizations to ‘make the money work’ – ensuring that all AIDS funds are linked to national objectives and simplifying aid structures. In Kenya, for example, the Joint Review process has helped to strengthen donors’ confidence in the quality and effectiveness of national programmes.

The new Guidance Paper on Joint Reviews, along with other related tools, is designed to help countries unite the many stakeholders involved in the AIDS response, in order to increase understanding of the epidemic and work collectively to achieve results.

Women in Mumbai, India. Credit: UNAIDS/S. Montanari

Journalists have a responsibility to report on HIV issues with accuracy and sensitivity to avoid stigmatizing people living with HIV and to clarify common misunderstandings about the disease, its prevention and transmission.

Following a court case in India where unbalanced reporting led to discrimination against an HIV positive child, the Press Council of India updated its media guidelines on the coverage of HIV-related news. Surveys show that media training and sensitization leads to relatively more balanced and accurate media reportage on HIV particularly in high-prevalence states.

The guidelines were published on 16 November, India’s National Press Day, at a function presided over President of India Pratibha Patil.

“The Press Council of India guidelines are a major step forward in the HIV response and they will set a benchmark for media reporting on the issue,” said Mohuya Chowdhary, Senior Editor, NDTV.

“At a time when the Indian media is expanding at a furious pace, these guidelines are very necessary to ensure qualitative and responsible coverage of HIV-related issues,” he continued.

How the media cover HIV issues or stories related to AIDS

Knowledge and understanding about the virus, as well as developments in HIV treatment, have undergone a sea change since 1993 when the Press Council guidelines for journalists which were first drawn up. The nature of media has also changed with the rise of electronic media in addition to print.

To assist in the review and update of guidelines to media the Press Council of India approached UNAIDS and civil society working in HIV. Workshops were held in September and October 2008 where experts discussed, debated and formulated revisions to the guidelines. They also agreed that this resource should be translated into as many languages as possible for the benefit of the journalists across India. Speaking at the launch, Justice GN Ray, Chairman of the Press Council of India, thanked UNAIDS for facilitating the process of formulating the new guidelines.

As HIV impacts across society they recommend that instead of concentrating on health reporters alone, people at all levels of a news organization should be trained and sensitized on HIV, especially on appropriate terminology.

Be objective, factual and sensitive

The guidelines emphasize that journalists must ensure their story is objective, factual and sensitive, even more so when they are reporting on HIV. This includes highlighting positive stories where appropriate, without underplaying the fact that HIV is a serious issue. Telling the whole story means giving it a human face, and allowing the voices of people living with HIV to be heard.

Accuracy of reporting is critical since important personal and policy decisions may be influenced by media reports and so distortion of facts in any manner is unacceptable. In the context of HIV this means that journalists need to be very careful about the scientific and medical details as well as statistics.

Adopt existing terminology

The guidelines also recommend that journalists and news organizations adopt and widely disseminate existing standardized terminology on reporting on HIV, such as UNAIDS Terminology Guidelines to encourage responsible coverage of the issue.

Ensuring that HIV information is securely stored and
confidentiality maintained will avoid potential
stigmatization and discrimination of individuals and
communities. Photo credit: UNAIDS/A.Gutman

In middle-and lower-income countries there is a push to improve patient management and the monitoring and evaluation of HIV services. To do this, all information systems, either paper-based or electronic, need to allow for relatively easy access to information. To ensure that patient confidentially is not compromised in the process, new guidelines have been released.

The ‘Interim Guidelines on Protecting the Confidentiality and Security of HIV Information’ offer information on data transfer, guiding principles, even disposal of information all to help maintain patient confidentiality.

Developed through a special workshop supported by UNAIDS and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), international health professionals and people living with HIV reviewed existing materials that could then be adapted to middle- and lower-income countries.

“Good clinical information is required for optimum treatment and care for people living with HIV.” said Eddy Beck, Senior Technical Officer, UNAIDS Evaluation Department. “Ensuring this information is securely stored and confidentiality maintained will avoid potential stigmatization and discrimination of individuals and communities, and enhance the quality of the information collected,” he added.

The new guidelines provide definitions, guiding principles and technical recommendations for the maintenance of privacy, confidentiality and security in working with HIV-related information.

The main recommendations from the guidelines:

Using health data for public health goals must be
balanced against individuals’ rights to privacy and
confidentiality. Photo credit: UNAIDS/A.Gutman

• Using health data for public health goals must be balanced against individuals’ rights to privacy and confidentiality;
• Health data need to serve the improvement of health and reduction of harm for all people. Policies, procedures, and technical methods must be balanced to protect both;
• individual and public rights must be balanced, and should be based on human rights principles;
• Within countries, privacy and confidentiality laws should be developed and put in place; relevant parameters of privacy or confidentiality laws must be reviewed and known by all persons accessing health data;
• The development and review of laws and procedures related to HIV information needs active participation from relevant stakeholders, including people living with and affected by HIV, health care professionals, and legal and ethical experts;
• Funding organizations should comply with these guidelines and make funding available to implement them. Maintaining security and confidentiality must be a condition for funding.

These interim guidelines will be field tested and additional training materials will be developed.

Action on AIDS requires greater coordination among
partners to ensure that actions are not duplicated
and resources are used most effectively and
efficiently.

In many countries, communities were the first to mobilize in response to AIDS, and their initiatives often laid the foundations for the development of the national response.

Building on this, experience has shown that action on AIDS requires greater coordination among partners to ensure that actions are not duplicated and resources are used most effectively and efficiently.

As a result, UNAIDS in collaboration with the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO), the African Council of AIDS Service Organizations (AfriCASO) and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance are launching Coordinating with Communities – Guidelines on the Involvement of the Community Sector in the Coordination of National AIDS Responses. The aim of the new guidelines is to strengthen the active and meaningful involvement of the community sector in the development, implementation and monitoring of coordinated national AIDS responses.

“While there is widespread acknowledgement that involving the community sector in the coordination of national AIDS responses will increase effectiveness, it often does not translate into actual meaningful involvement,” said Kieran Daly, ICASO Director for Policy and Communications.

“The community sector brings to the coordinating table vital technical knowledge and experiences that can help ensure national AIDS responses meet the real needs of those most affected.  For this to work, all stakeholders need to be open to genuine collaboration, using these guidelines to build greater understanding of how to support active and meaningful involvement of the community sector,” he added.

The new guidelines aim to strengthen the active
and meaningful involvement of the community
sector in the development, implementation and
monitoring of coordinated national AIDS responses.

The guidelines aim to provide practical options from which communities and stakeholders can identify the actions that are most appropriate and useful to their own contexts.

The guidelines also aim to promote a set of universal principles, such as human rights and gender equality that are relevant to all countries and contexts. In particular, these guidelines are underpinned by the recognition that the greater involvement of people living with HIV will provide for more effective national responses to AIDS.

The use of the guidelines will be affected by factors such as the current capacity of the community sector’s organizations and networks, and the relationship between community groups and other stakeholders. However, in any country, these guidelines can be used as:

• A tool to assess the current strengths and weaknesses of community sector involvement in all national AIDS coordinating bodies and processes.

• A tool to develop a multi-sectoral action plan to increase and improve community sector involvement in all national AIDS coordinating bodies and processes.

• A tool for advocating to improve and fund both community sector involvement in national AIDS coordinating bodies and processes and also community sector networking and coordination.

• A basis for developing local or district-level guidelines on community sector involvement in AIDS coordinating bodies and processes.

Efforts to increase a harmonized response to AIDS
can only be successfully achieved with the active
and meaningful involvement of the community
sector.

The guidelines were developed in response to requests from groups of people living with HIV, community organizations, and groups and individuals from other sectors who recognized that efforts to increase a harmonized response to AIDS­­­­ – in line with the ‘Three Ones’ principles – can only be successfully achieved with the active and meaningful involvement of the community sector.

“The involvement of the community sector is critical in our efforts to move towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support”, said Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director. “The community sector is at the forefront of identifying the needs of and providing services to affected communities. Therefore they deserve a stronger voice in planning and coordination of national AIDS responses. With these guidelines we are investing in the capacity of the community sector to claim their rightful role among the partners in the AIDS response.”

WHO and UNAIDS issued new guidance on informed, voluntary HIV testing and counselling in health facilities on Wednesday 30 May, with a view to increase access to needed HIV treatment, care, support and HIV prevention services.  The new guidance focuses on provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling (PICT).