Namibia
The Alliance's Linking Organisation in Namibia, Positive Vibes, is an innovative HIV and AIDS communication initiative.
Namibia has a generalised HIV epidemic that is primarily sexually transmitted. Adult HIV prevalence is estimated to be 13.1%.
Populations including sex workers, people who inject drugs and men who have sex with men are at even higher risk of HIV than the general population. Other people at higher risk include transport workers, youths who are out of school, fishermen and mobile workers.
TB is also a huge health issue in Namibia, particularly for people living with HIV.
Positive Vibes believes that people living with HIV are best placed to prevent the spread of HIV. They have been implementing approaches led by people living with HIV since 2007. These interventions aim to give those affected by HIV a voice, with a view to shaping decision making at all levels of society.
Positive Vibes has a wide range of partners including civil society organisations, the government and donors. It also hosts the largest national LGBTI group, OutRight and Tonata, a group for people living with HIV.
Positive Vibes is one of four Alliance Linking Organisations working to prevent HIV among men who have sex with men and sex workers as part of the Alliance’s Africa Regional Programme, read more here.
WHAT WE DO
Self-help groups
This programme supports community based self-help groups for people living with or affected by HIV. As well as providing information about HIV the group helps members to deal with issues such as stigma and discrimination, and HIV prevention.
Empowering children and adolescents
Through these programmes Positive Vibes helps children and adolescents to articulate their needs, and encourage parents, care givers and decision makers to respond to these needs. They also aim to help build life skills and self-confidence.
Workplace programmes
These programmes help NGOs and government offices to build supportive environments for staff members who are living with HIV. Positive Vibes are hoping to extend the programme to private companies.
HIV prevention with LGBT
This programme provides specific training and workshops for lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in Namibia. Positive Vibes as sector leaders in LGBT programming and host the largest national LGBT group, OutRight.
Regional programme
Positive Vibes has been looking to extend its approach to neighbouring countries, using its funds to establish a consolidated regional programme, and strengthen support provided by organisations in neighbouring countries.
FUTURE PLANS
As Positive Vibes joined the Alliance as a Linking Organisation in 2012, this year it will focus on addressing the issues identified during the accreditation process as requiring attention. This mainly includes strengthening the governance system.