For many years, humanitarian and relief organizations did not see HIV as a priority in emergencies, focusing their attention on lifesaving measures such as the provision of health care, water, food and shelter. HIV was not seen as a direct threat to life, nor was the need to address HIV/AIDS as a long-term development issue fully understood. With the evidence of the HIV/AIDS dimension in the recent southern Africa crisis this perception is now changing. Coordinated responses to increased HIV vulnerability in emergency settings are starting to be integrated into humanitarian and relief agency workplans at the earliest possible stage
of an emergency.

UN Organizations are increasingly being challenged to demonstrate their relevance as well as their ability to work together and make the best use of their collective resources. More than ever, therefore, the spotlight is on the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and its contribution to the AIDS effort at the country level, and on the performance of UN Theme Groups on HIV/AIDS.

Improving AIDS Coordination Among Multilateral Institutions and International Donors

Report on estimates of resource requirements for HIV prevention, treatment and care; support for orphans and vulnerable children; programme and human resource costs.

This UNAIDS Best Practice Collection publication is intended as a resource for civil society, groups of people living with HIV, national programme managers, international and national policy-makers and donors to better appreciate and support the concept of involving more community-based organizations in national plans for providing HIV care and treatment. In 2004, the nongovernmental organization, Sidaction, with support from UNAIDS and WHO, conducted a survey of the community response to HIV treatment needs in Africa. The document describes the self-reported experiences and achievements of community-based organizations already involved in providing care; this Best Practice provides strategic information on some of the needs, challenges and opportunities that are specifi c to community-based organizations in scaling up access to care and treatment; it demonstrates the current and potential value of their work and suggests ways forward to assess, support, and enlarge the scope and impact of that work. It is hoped that this Best Practice will inspire other countries and regions to replicate the untiring work of African community-based organizations, as well as demonstrate to both policy makers and donors the valuable contributions of civil society to the response to the AIDS epidemic, especially with regards to provision of care and treatment. This survey was the fi rst attempt to map and describe the contributions made by community groups, including those founded by persons living with HIV, in increasing access to antiretroviral therapy. Urgent and ongoing support to their efforts, in the context of a viable public health response, is a critical part of an effective and comprehensive response to HIV.

The purpose of these guidelines is to provide National AIDS Councils (or equivalent) with technical guidance on how to measure the revised list of core indicators for the implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, adopted by Member States of the United Nations during the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in June 2001. These guidelines provide technical guidance on the detailed specifi cations of the core indicators, on the information required and the basis of their construction, and on their interpretation. The guidelines also aim to maximize the validity, internal consistency and comparability across countries and over time of the indicator estimates obtained. In particular, the guidelines aim to ensure consistency in the types of data and methods of calculation employed.

This evaluation measures the effectiveness and efficiency of the AIDS Competence Programme’s process and outcomes. The evaluation’s approach relies both on methods used in AIDS programme evaluations, and accepted sociological evaluation methods that define community capacity or the individual capacity (i.e.,economic, social, pedagogical and politically related outcomes).

This Summary document outlines the new approach to the technical-support division of labour, which complements a number of other initiatives underway to reinforce the rational division of labour within UNAIDS at global and country levels.UNAIDS Secretariat and Cosponsors were tasked with using this framework to develop a Consolidated UN Technical Support Plan for AIDS (2006-2007). This will become an iterative process undertaken by the Global Joint Problem-Solving and Implementation Support Team (GIST).

HIV-related stigma and discrimination and human rights violations constitute great barriers to preventing HIV infection; providing care, support and treatment; and alleviating the impact of the epidemic.

The vision that led to the creation of UNAIDS was that the UN would be more effective in facing the exceptional challenges posed by AIDS if its institutions worked together in a more coordinated and coherent way. The Unified Budget and Workplan has been instrumental in moving UNAIDS towards this vision. It provides an overall framework for the entire range of action on AIDS by the UNAIDS Cosponsors and the Secretariat, but is fexible enough to respond to the ever evolving AIDS epidemic. The Unified Budget and Workplan sets out the specific commitments of each part of the Joint Programme, including the results each Cosponsor and the Secretariat will seek to achieve, matched with resource requirements.