(front row from left) Professor Miriam Were, Excellency Mr Joaquim Chissano, His Excellency Mr Festus G. Mogae and Ms. Joyce Mhaville. (back row from left) Dr. Innocent Ntaganira (WHO AFRO), Mr Ndolamb Ngokwey (UN Resident Coordinator in Mozambique), Dr. Kereng Masupu (Champions Secretartiat), Dr. Antonica Hembe (SADC), Mr Luke Nkinsi (Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation), Mr Mauricio Cysne (UNAIDS) and Paula Mondlana (Africa Forum)
Credit: UNAIDS/Doug Johnson

The “Champions for an HIV-free Generation” - an organization of African leaders including former African presidents and other influential personalities – visited Mozambique as part of their mandate to mobilize leadership in Africa and to promote effective policies and action on HIV prevention.

The aim of the visit was to advocate for keeping AIDS high on the political agenda in Mozambique as well as to step up efforts to prevent the spread of HIV in the country. As outspoken opinion-leaders, the Champions sought to initiate a dialogue in changing behavioural and societal norms.

“The Champions realize that stronger, more visionary leadership must come from within the continent most affected by this epidemic. We are here to reach our peers, our African brothers and sisters, to find solutions together,” said His Excellency Mr Festus Mogae, former president of Botswana.

Led by Mr. Mogae, the Champions met with Mozambique’s President Armando Guebuza, Prime Minister Luisa Diogo and several cabinet members, as well as with leaders of civil society organizations, development partners and the media. Through their discussions, the Champions shared regional experiences in fighting the disease and urged the scale-up of effective HIV prevention strategies.

Other Champions taking part in the visit included His Excellency, Mr. Joaquim Chissano, former President of the Republic of Mozambique; Professor Miriam Were, chairperson of the Kenya National AIDS Control Council; and Ms. Joyce Mhaville, chairperson of the Steering Committee of the African Broadcast Media Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (ABMP).

(from left) Excellency Mr Joaquim Chissano, Professor Miriam Were, Ms. Joyce Mhaville, (seated) His Excellency Mr Festus G. Mogae
Credits: UNAIDS/Doug Johnson

"The Champions for a HIV Free Generation is an extraordinary initiative. The Champions play a pivotal role in advocating for the scale up of key prevention activities that can have the greatest impact such as multiple concurrent partnerships and male circumcision," said UNAIDS Country Coordinator Mauricio Cysne.

Male circumcision

One of the priority issues that the Champions brought to Mozambique is the subject of male circumcision. The Champions asked the government to consider the rapid scale-up of male circumcision as a priority under the country’s current comprehensive HIV prevention plan. The Champions pointed out the compelling scientific evidence, globally and even locally, that male circumcision can reduce HIV infections greatly.

Furthermore, they also stressed the fact that male circumcision should always be considered as part of a comprehensive HIV prevention package and that the communication strategies around male circumcision are critical to prevent men from developing a false sense of security and engage in high-risk behaviours that could undermine the partial protection provided by male circumcision.

Multiple partnerships and concurrent relationships

Multiple partnerships and concurrent relationships were other issues brought forward by the Champions. In Mozambique, as in other parts of the southern Africa region, many people have more than one sexual partner. Close sexual networks are formed when men and women have multiple sexual partners or concurrent relationships—ongoing relationships with more than one intimate partner overlapping for weeks, months or years. If someone in this network acquires HIV it increases the chance of everyone else who is part of this network becoming infected.

(from left) His Excellency Mr Joaquim Chissano, Professor Miriam Were, Ms. Joyce Mhaville and His Excellency Mr Festus G. Mogae
Credits: UNAIDS/Doug Johnson

The Champions emphasized the importance of developing a nation-wide campaign to reduce multiple concurrent partners and to demonstrate strong leadership and engagement of prominent persons seen as role models. These recommendations come shortly after a new national HIV prevention strategy has been approved by the Mozambican government, and the Champions advocated for keeping the momentum for addressing issues of sexual behaviours that can increase the risk of HIV infection.

Social transformation

A social transformation of gender roles and relations is already under way in Mozambique, which can be seen from the recent legal changes. The Legislation on the Protection of People Living with HIV Against Stigma and Discrimination was promulgated in January 2009 and a new Domestic Violence Bill is underway which will improve women’s ability to negotiate sex and to prevent HIV infection. The Champions stressed that the government should fully support the development and implementation of these new legal mechanisms.

Finally the Champions pointed out the necessity for sustainable funding of the AIDS response and offered to share successful experiences from other countries in the region on effective allocation of resources and private/public partnerships.

More than 1.6 million people are estimated to be living with HIV in Mozambique. The disease, which disproportionately affects women and children, is estimated to claim more than 92,000 lives each year. Among the main drivers of the epidemic in Mozambique are large numbers of multiple and concurrent partnerships, low levels of circumcision and gender inequality.

Background on the Champions

The Champions for an HIV-Free Generation are highly visibly leaders and outspoken advocates for those affected and infected by HIV. Led by H. E. Mr. Mogae as chairperson, the founding members include four former African presidents, a Nobel Laureate, and other high-level African leaders from different walks of life. The Champions focus their efforts in sub-Saharan Africa, home to more than two-thirds of all people living with HIV. With a focus on proven HIV prevention practices, the Champions embrace and promote key policy, legal, cultural and behavioral practices and messages that help accelerate the social outcomes needed to achieve an HIV-free generation.

The collaborating partners of this initiative are the World Bank, UNAIDS, the World Health Organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and PEPFAR.

(L to R): Luís Amado, Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Portugal; José Sócrates, Prime
Minister of Portugal; Michel Sidibè,
UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director;
Aníbal Cavaco Silva, President of the
Republic of Portugal- during the VII
CPLP’s Heads of State Summit.
Photo: Luis Filipe Catarino

The Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) Heads of State’s Summit took place on 24 and 25 July in Lisbon, Portugal. The summit, which happens every two years, is an opportunity to review progress made and to improve cooperation between CPLP Member States on political, economic, social and cultural issues. One of this year’s topics was dedicated to the improvement of cooperation in the AIDS response.

The summit brought together representatives of CPLP’s Member States (Angola, Brazil, Cap Vert, East Timor, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Sao Tome e Prince), Observer States (Guinea Equatorial, Mauritius, Senegal) and representatives from international organizations (Africa Union, FAO, UNESCO, UNAIDS, CEDEAO, UNASUL).

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Michel Sidibe participated in the CPLP summit as a keynote speaker at the Civil Society Forum on Health Affairs. This side event was an initiative of Former President Sampaio, CPLP’s Goodwill Ambassador for Health Affairs and United Nations Special Envoy to Stop TB.

At the summit, UNAIDS and CPLP announced a new partnership as a result of the existing engagement and collaboration between CPLP’s countries and UNAIDS. This collaboration was reflected in the launch of a new report by CPLP highlighting progress made towards universal access to treatment, prevention and care in the CPLP’s countries. Furthermore, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the eight Member States also approved an AIDS declaration during the summit.

In order to further highlight the issue of HIV during the Summit and to foster a new generation of leaders committed to the AIDS response, UNAIDS in partnership with the CPLP and National Portuguese Television (RTP) held a televised town hall on AIDS.

“Alerta Sida”, “Aids Alert” was broadcasted on 23 July, the eve of the Summit, by RTP AFRICA and RTP International.

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Michel
Sidibè with Lula da Silva, President of
Brazil - during the 2008 Community of
Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP)
Heads of State’s Summit. 24 and 25 July
Lisbon, Portugal. Photo: UNAIDS

University students from different CPLP countries put a series of questions to a panel of experts representing the CPLP, technical programming and civil society.

The panel answering students’ questions were CPLP Executive Secretary Ambassador Luís Fonseca (Cape Vert); Portugal’s National AIDS Coordinator Professor Henrique de Barros; and General Coordinator of Abia (a Brazilian non-governmental organization) Dra. Cristina Pimenta.

Video messages from some CPLP Heads of State; UNAIDS’ Deputy Executive Director, Michel Sidibe and Former President Sampaiom, CPLP’s Ambassador for Health Issues were also broadcasted.

This initiative also had the support of Lusófona University.

The 80 minute programme included a short report about the AIDS epidemic in Mozambique, the Portuguese-speaking country with the highest numbers of people living with HIV.

The Joint UN Gender Programme in Mozambique
supports the growing number of women and girls
living or affected by HIV.
Credit: UNAIDS/A.Gutman

In 2005 a four-year Joint UN Gender programme was established in Mozambique to support the growing number of women affected by the AIDS epidemic in the country. The Joint Programme is funded by the Flanders Government, coordinated by UNAIDS and is being implemented by the United Nations Population Fund in partnership with the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the National Aids Council, the Ministry of Women and Social Action and networks of civil society organizations.

The programme is strengthening and supporting a multisectoral response to the AIDS epidemic by focusing on partnerships, together with the empowerment of women’s organizations and associations of people living with HIV. A national advocacy campaign on women and girls is being developed and best practices are being identified that can be replicated in the national AIDS response.

Meeting of "Ahitipaluxene" (meaning “let’s break
the silence”), a care and support association of
women living with HIV.
Credit: UNAIDS/A.Gutman

One national non-governmental organisation being supported through the Joint Programme is Ahitipaluxene, meaning “let’s break the silence”, which is an association of women living with HIV. Ahitipaluxene is an affiliate of Kuyakana a national network of women living with HIV and one of the networks involved in the four-year Joint UN Gender programme.

Ahitipaluxene’s core activity is the provision of food rations and home based care to people living with HIV. In addition the association carries out advocacy on human rights on AIDS related issues. Furthermore, members undertake fundraising activities such as knitting red ribbons as well as designing and making clothes.

UNAIDS and partners are supporting Ahitipaluxene to strengthen their institutional capacity in strategic planning, proposal development, and communication. Established in 2004 and registered in 2006, Ahitipaluxene has 23 full-time members and supports more than 125 people receiving antiretroviral treatment. During 2007, it expects to support an additional 110 people who have not yet started treatment.

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More on Mozambique
More on the Implementers' Meeting
More on Women and AIDS
Visit the website of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS

After appointing the First Lady of Mozambique as a Patron of the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive, UNAIDS Executive Director met with the President of Mozambique Armando Guebuza.

In recent years, the Government of Mozambique has made great strides in its response to HIV. Improvements in the country’s primary health care system have been made to meet the growing demand for HIV treatment, care and services; three quarters of pregnant women living with HIV have access to medicines to prevent transmitting the virus to their children; and new infections among children were reduced by 46% from 2009 to 2012.

Despite progress, Mozambique continues to have one of the highest rates of new HIV infections in the world and bottlenecks continue to hamper Mozambique’s response. For example, just 28% of children in need of treatment are receiving it in Mozambique.

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