Senegal must tackle barriers to the involvement of people living with HIV, says workshop
27 June 2007
Senegal is lagging behind neighbouring countries such as Togo and Burkina Faso in promoting the greater involvement of people living with HIV (GIPA), an Alliance-facilitated workshop has revealed.
The workshop confirmed that stakeholders are blocking the involvement of people living with HIV in the national response not only at association level but also at non-governmental support organisation and government levels as well.
To make progress, strong advocacy work is now needed with non-governmental support organisations, coupled with intense organisational and leadership development support to associations of people living with HIV and the national network of positive people.
The national workshop at the end of May brought together associations of people living with HIV, the national network of people living with HIV, care and support associations, non-governmental support organisations, government actors and United Nations institutions.
The first of its kind in Senegal, the workshop had been planned as part of the Global Fund phase 2 HIV grant for the component on community care and support for orphans and vulnerable children and people living with HIV.
Organised by the Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI)/Senegal and Alliance linking organisation Alliance Nationale Contre le Sida (ANCS), the workshop was called to improve understanding of GIPA. It has helped to highlight the advantages of involving people living with HIV and the risks when this involvement is not planned. As well as identifying individual, organisational and social obstacles to involvement, participants have also planned how to overcome organisational barriers to involvement.
Tools used in the workshop included the Alliance’s Enhancing the greater involvement of people living with HIV (GIPA) in NGOs/CBOs in India and the recently issued UNAIDS policy document on the involvement of people living with HIV.
The workshop was co-facilitated by the Alliance’s Mamisoa Rangers, Hélène Badini from UNAIDS and Yawo Gouna from the Togo National AIDS Council. Alioune Fall, the HACI/Senegal co-ordinator, and Massogui Thiandoum, ANCS programme officer for the Global Fund project, also made significant contributions.
