Support to key populations starts in Myanmar
31 August 2005
In June, the Alliance programme in Myanmar started its first round of grants to partner organisations. Eight grants are being provided for projects which aim to provide care and support to people living with HIV/AIDS and their families through a range of health and socio-economic support activities.
The projects grew out of participatory community assessments carried out by partner organisations with support from the Alliance. The organisations supported include Christian and Buddhist faith-based organisations, self-help groups of people living with HIV/AIDS, and community-based organisations reaching populations key to the dynamics of the epidemic in Myanmar.
A key element of the projects is counselling for people living with HIV/AIDS. A workshop on counselling was carried out with technical support from the Thai non-governmental organisation AIDS ACCESS in July.
A curriculum for men who have sex with men/gay peer educators to help them organise and facilitate group discussions on HIV and sexual health is under development. A workshop for sex workers on developing information, education and communication materials to help spread HIV prevention and sexual health messages will also be organised in collaboration with the Alliance’s Department of Policy and Technical Support and the Asia-Pacific Network of Sex Work Projects in early September.
