Dear Colleagues, Partners, and Friends,
December 1, 2008, marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Management Sciences for Health is pleased to present a short video commemorating the event and highlighting associated events provided by our programs across the world.
This year's theme, Lead-Empower-Deliver, emphasizes the need for leadership and capacity building in the long-standing and epic fight against HIV & AIDS. Developing strong leaders and effective managers is crucial to achieving universal access to comprehensive prevention programs, treatment, care, and support for those affected by HIV & AIDS. MSH staff and partners have are using this model to help the more than half a million people with HIV & AIDS, and the outcome is clear.
In the program's first year alone, the HIV/AIDS Care and Support Program (HCSP) in Ethiopia opened more than 250 health offices with an HIV/AIDS plan, trained nearly 1,500 outreach workers in HIV prevention, and contributed to nearly 1 million individuals who have been counseled and tested for HIV.
Despite receiving only 5 percent of total PEPFAR funds earmarked for Haiti, the MSH Santé pour le Développement et la Stabilité d'Haïti Project-Pwojè Djanm facilitated voluntary counseling services for more than 100,000 individuals and testing for nearly 40,000 pregnant women.
The impact of performance-based financing in Gicumbi District in Rwanda has been dramatic. In just a nine-month period during 2006-2007, participating health centers increased the number of HIV tests administered by 155 percent (on average) to 7,670.
Through the Integrated Primary Health Care (IPHC) Project in South Africa, the number of facilities offering antiretroviral treatment for HIV & AIDS increased from 4 in 2005 to 17 in 2008, and the number of patients increased from 105 to 22,712.
Current MSH programs are doing their part on this important day as well.
* The Community-based Family Planning and HIV & AIDS Services program in Malawi is organizing information booths across eight districts in the nation. Each booth will present the integrated family planning and HIV & AIDS program using community-based distribution agents and will offer family planning counseling and testing to local people. The program will also stage drama performances that will convey key messages about HIV & AIDS.
* The LMS AIDS Care and Treatment team in Nigeria offers HIV & AIDS counseling and testing (HCT) services across the country, providing information on HCT and care and treatment centers. The program is also coordinating a booth in the capital of Abuja that displays informative videos, gives out T-shirts, and distributes information about HIV & AIDS awareness.
* The Ethiopia HCSP is working with governmental and nongovernmental organizations to produce nearly 200,000 posters and leaflets on World AIDS Day messages, prevention information, and testing sites. The program is also initiating voluntary counseling and testing sensitization campaigns, as well as advocacy workshops for more than 550 religious leaders, political leaders, and community elders.
* The IPHC Project will join the Department of Health in South Africa in a candlelight vigil remembering those who have been affected by HIV & AIDS.
Please view our video commemorating this significant event at www.msh.org <http://www.msh.org/news-bureau/world-aids-day-2008.cfm> .
Sincerely,
Management Sciences for Health
mailto:communications@msh.org