Responding to the AIDS Epidemic

Dec. 1, 2005—The AIDS epidemic now has a women’s face. According to UNAIDS, women are now 57 percent of those in sub-Saharan Africa living with the disease. And, there’s been a dramatic increase in new HIV infections among young women, who now make up over 60 percent of those aged 15 to 24 infected worldwide.

To respond, CEDPA is working in partnership with local leaders and faith-based organizations to promote HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment in communities worldwide.

In Nigeria, CEDPA is mobilizing faith-based organizations in the fight against AIDS as a partner in the five-year Global HIV/AIDS Initiative Nigeria (GHAIN) project.

Because faith communities are critical to influencing behavior change in Nigeria, CEDPA’s work has included partnerships with religious leaders, who have reached over 500,000 people with sermons in churches and mosques with abstinence, be faithful and stigma reduction messages. The GHAIN project is funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through the U.S. Agency for International Development.

In Egypt, CEDPA’s non-formal education programs include AIDS prevention messages for adolescent girls and boys. The curriculum was developed in close collaboration with community partners to reflect local values and needs.

CEDPA’s India office was a founding member of the Jharkhand AIDS Prevention Consortium. The Consortium brings together non-governmental organizations, corporate councils and government agencies working on HIV/AIDS prevention strategies in that state, which has a high migratory worker population due to the number of industries in the area.

And in Nepal, CEDPA works to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS through education programs and events that target women of reproductive age.

To mark World AIDS Day 2005, CEDPA/Nepal is holding events in Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Khatmandu Districts. And, CEDPA/Nepal has partnered with the Nepal National Center for AIDS and STD Control to award a monetary prize on World AIDS Day to a community-based organization that is implementing innovative behavior-change strategies among those infected by the disease.

To learn more about World AIDS Day activities around the world, go to the World AIDS Day Campaign Web site.

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