PHA-Exchange> Bringing HIV prevention back to the forefront

[Claudio]

RFI: Bringing HIV prevention back to the forefront
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Dear Colleagues,

UNAIDS ­ the main United Nations agency on HIV/AIDS - is cur-
rently in the process of updating its Global Prevention Strat-
egy, an essential and urgent task in the light of the changing
and challenging environment in which HIV/AIDS prevention pro-
gramming operates. As part of the process of examining and re-
positioning HIV prevention, UNAIDS have asked the International
AIDS Alliance to consult with partners and facilitate a process
that will allow us to share experiences and feed them back to
UNAIDS to ensure the new Global Prevention Strategy reflects the
realities and challenges on the ground.

We would greatly value your input into this process. UNAIDS will
be presenting this new strategy at programme coordinating board
meeting in December 2004. However, it is a key document and we
think it is important for all of us to provide input, so we
would greatly appreciate it if you could be part of our re-
sponse.

Please take a few minutes to provide responses to these five
questions below. To focus our feedback and input, the Alliance
has put together a number of discussion points for you to look
at.

They would welcome feedback directly to:
mailto:sgodfree at aidsalliance.org
latest by Wednesday 13 October 2004.


Thank you very much for your time!
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The challenge:

The re-working of the Global Prevention strategy is an opportu-
nity to critically examine the challenges that currently exist
in prevention programming, not only expanded HIV/AIDS treatment
but also the context of increasing levels of poverty. The pre-
vention strategy aims to inform not just the UN agencies but the
policy and political leaders of the world. The commitment to the
reinforcing strategies of Risk, Impact and Vulnerability Reduc-
tion is unchanged: the challenge now is to capture the attention
of, and push for action from, not only the UN agencies but the
world at large. What do we feel UNAIDS' key strategies should be
to ensure that this is achieved?

Discussion points:

Q1. What prevention strategies have been shown to be effective
in your area? Over what period of time?


Q2. How is the external environment affecting your work ­ both
positively (in terms of new opportunities and challenges) and
negatively? Areas to consider ­ civil society capacity / in-
volvement, funding, economic conditions.


Q3. How much does the current legal and policy environment un-
derpin effective prevention work in your country?


Q4. What would be necessary to take effective prevention strate-
gies to scale?


Q5. Does current thinking in prevention work contribute to re-
ducing vulnerability, tackle human rights issues and reduce
stigma and discrimination?

Points to consider:
The purpose of comments is to ensure that a solid policy frame-
work is based on effective practice on the ground. We must not
be tempted to provide a technical / interventions shopping list
of our projects but rather consider how the lessons learned can
ensure policy and direction that can influence right across the
UN agencies ­ not just UNAIDS.

Is there anything missing from current prevention thinking /
statements at a national, regional and global level? What needs
greater attention / highlighting and why?

Vulnerability reduction:
UNAIDS will remain committed to the reinforcing strategies of
Risk, Vulnerability and Impact Reduction. Does the increasing
level of vulnerability of millions of people and the direct link
to human rights, stigma and discrimination mean that we need to
reinforce efforts towards reducing vulnerability and bring this
to the centre of our efforts?

Does the current prevention strategy reinforce the diversity of
those affected by the epidemic and allow for / ensure that re-
sponses are contextual, country / regionally specific and aimed
at having the most long term sustainable impact?

What do we feel is the current success of the Global Strategy
framework on HIV/AIDS in ensuring that HIV is seen as an inte-
gral operational priority for all UN Agencies ­ e.g. WFP, UNHCR,
UNICEF, UNFPA, the World Bank. How have we seen this reflected
in their work and our opportunities for joint programming in
countries?

The Alliance is circulating this discussion paper both inter-
nally and externally to our networks and associates. If you feel
there are other networks / organizations that would welcome the
opportunity to feed into the development of the new Global
strategy then please do forward on the discussion points and
questions. We have pitched this discussion for the hopeful in-
clusion of as many of you as possible, recognising the varying
scope for involvement and opportunity to feedback electroni-
cally. We further acknowledge that you may also feel that not
all the points raised or questions asked apply to your situa-
tion, but would welcome any comments you which to share. Fi-
nally, we would welcome any feedback you have on this process
and please feel free to contact me if there are points of clari-
fication.

With kind regards,

Sarah Godfree,
Head ­ Prevention Team
Department of Policy and Technical Support
International HIV/AIDS Alliance
mailto:sgodfree at aidsalliance.org