Best Practices Collection Archive

The Far Away From Home Club is an example of success in the response to HIV in Viet Nam. A combination of dedicated, energetic, and forward-looking individuals and

Burnout is not a single event but a process in which everyday stresses and anxieties that are not addressed gradually undermine carers mental and physical health, so that eventually caregiving and personal relationships suffer. Burnout is the fi nal stage in the stress process when everything falls apart. As a medical condition, burnout has no clear defi nition, but as a psychological condition it has been well defi ned and is increasingly recognized by people in the caring professions. Burnout has long been identifi ed as a crucial issue in HIV care and support; yet there is relatively little known about what measures can be taken to prevent or mitigate it.This document looks at how carer burnout can be avoided. It focuses on the approach used by a faith-based organization, IMCARES, Mumbai, India, to care for their staff and volunteers employed in their programmes and as carers in the community. Their strategy and practice may provide useful lessons in caring for carers for both secular and faith-based organizations working with people living with and affected by HIV.

This publication gives a brief overview of the national response to AIDS in Morocco. The Moroccan AIDS response gave rise to the National Strategic Plan, which now serves as a reference throughout Africa. The National Strategic Plan has contributed to keeping the national seroprevalence at a low level. In a population of 32 million, prevalence of 0.1% among pregnant women has been found and an aggregate number of 1878 cases of AIDS were declared at the end of 2005.

The All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV was founded in the late 1990s by people alarmed by the rapidly growing epidemic in their country, and the lack of resources and support for themselves and others affected by HIV. Since then the Network has grown to provide services throughout the country. Key strategy components are: increasing access to care and support; lobbying and advocating protecting the rights of people living with HIV; seeking to increase social acceptance of people living with HIV; and enhancing the organizational capacity of the Network. This short document outlines the development of the Network and highlights lessons learnt, a longer study providing more information about the Network is available on UNAIDS’ website.

UNAIDS best practice collection: an innovative new project in Thailand - the Positive Partnership Program (PPP) - has two goals: 1) to enable people living with HIV to lift themselves out of poverty, achieved through the provision of microcredit loans that allow people to set up small businesses in their communities; 2) the second goal is to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV.

Tanzania has made substantial progress in strengthening the national response to HIV in recent years. This case study describes different aspects of the response made in the Mbeya region over the last 20 years. More than 2 million people live in the region and it was, and continues to be one of the worst-affected parts of the country. However, HIV prevalence which reached an estimated high of 20% in the mid-1990s has been in decline since then. It is very likely that the work of the Mbeya Regional AIDS Control Programme which began in 1988 has made an important contribution to reversing the trend of the epidemic.

In 2003 UNHCR, WFP, and UNICEF launched a joint effort to develop, through multi-site field research in refugee communities in Africa, a set of strategies for using food and nutrition-based interventions to support HIV transmission prevention, impact mitigation, and care, treatment, and support for people living with HIV. This important collaborative initiative grew out of the recognition that refugee settings are unique. It was recognized also that specific research is required conducted among and with refugees. This Best Practice document discusses the research process and findings of this interagency initiative.

This study describes the work of the Choose to Care initiative of the Catholic Church in Southern Africa which began in 2000. It shows that effective scaling-up of programmes in the response to HIV does not necessarily have to be the expansion of a single central service. Working through the diocesan and parish system, coordinated by the AIDS Office Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, and originally funded by the Catholic Mission Medical Board and other Catholic funding agencies, the Catholic Church scaled up service provision by the replication of smaller scale programmes rooted in and responsive to the needs expressed by local communities in this five-country area. This study shows that such an approach is effective when undertaken within common guidelines and given central support.

This study describes the work of the Choose to Care initiative of the Catholic Church in Southern Africa. It shows that effective scaling up of programmes in the response to HIV, and work towards making Universal Access a reality, does not necessarily have to be the expansion of a single central service. Through the Choose to Care initiative the Church scaled up service provision by the replication of smaller scale programmes rooted in and responsive to their immediate communities’ needs. The study shows that such an approach is effective when undertaken within common guidelines and given central support.

Access to treatment in the private-sector workplace; the provision of antiretroviral therapy by three companies in South AfricaAntiretroviral therapy (ART) is having a huge impact on the lives of those who have access to it. For them, AIDS has become a manageable condition rather than a death sentence. However, for the vast majority of people living with HIV, nothing has changed because neither they nor their countries’ health-care systems can afford to pay for antiretroviral therapy.One source of hope comes from the business sector. The workplace—both private and public—provides many opportunities for extending access to treatment, through occupational health schemes and health insurance schemes. A number of companies now have experience in providing antiretroviral therapy for their employees (and, in some cases, also for dependants). Given the impact of the epidemic, there is a clear economic advantage for companies in offering employees access to treatment and in demonstrating a strong corporate responsibility.After a brief description of the important components of workplace programmes on HIV/AIDS, this case study features three companies in South Africa that are providing antiretroviral therapy to their employees: AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton and Eskom. Detailed descriptions are given of the companies’ antiretroviral therapy and care-and-support programmes, with an analysis of their differing approaches and shared challenges. Public health provision should be strengthened, not undermined, by the contribution of the private sector to HIV and AIDS treatment. The companies profi led in this report are working with government, communities and civil society to extend treatment nationwide, through various projects and programmes and by setting an example of sustainable access to treatment and care.