Côte d’Ivoire: a beacon of hope for HIV/AIDS NGO funding and capacity building
6 December 2007 – for immediate release
While years of civil strife have contributed to Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) recording the highest HIV prevalence in Western Africa, recent interventions show that progress can be made in the effort to reduce HIV infections.
This case study (see related resources, right) is one of the centre-pieces at the Civil Society, HIV/AIDS and Africa: capacity, sustainability, partnerships conference being held in Johannesburg, South Africa from December 5 to 7.
The meeting is co-hosted by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and the UK Government’s Department for International Development, and co-organised by UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
Representatives from civil society organisations, government and donors from across the globe are gathering to share and learn of others' experiences in building capacity to combat the pandemic.
The situation in Côte d’Ivoire, which is seen in the context of political instability and civil war over the past five years, currently has an HIV prevalence of 4,7% among the general population. This excludes higher rates among highly vulnerable groups and populations in the urban peripheries and rural areas.
Young adults are the most affected, with women being increasingly affected (6.4% of women are infected compared to 2.9% of men according to a Survey on AIDS indicators carried out in Côte d’Ivoire in 2005).
Despite government commitment to a nine-year plan spanning 1996-2005 the Côte d’Ivoire health sector budget allocation fell by 18%, to hardly 7% of the total budget.
This prompted the involvement of the Global Fund and PEPFAR to support the implementation of the country's national priorities and the development of a fast, effective, and sustainable HIV response.
Since the start of the PEPFAR programme in 2004, the country has received grants of more than $170-million.
The number of centres providing ARV treatment has increased from 16 in 2004 to 58 in 2006 and will further increase to 123 by March 2008. More than 195,000 people were treated as part of the HIV prevention support programme, compared with 125,000 in 2004.
The government's HIV/AIDS programme consists of both a decentralisation of AIDS control activities and a multi-sectoral approach. The latter facilitated the participation of International HIV/AIDS Alliance through its local partner Alliance Nationale Contre le SIDA en Côte d’Ivoire (ANS-CI).
ANS-CI has played a leading role as an umbrella organisation and provides grants and technical and financial assistance to organisations. ANS-CI has also helped to establish and build partnerships between donors and civil society organisations.
The organisation also monitors and ensures that resources from bilateral and multilateral partners are consistently disbursed and used effectively and has been able to provide more accurate information reflecting the reality at regional and national levels due to its strong ties to communities, civil society, government, bilateral and multilateral bodies, and institutions in the private sector.
The management approach promoted by ANS-CI, which is results-based, suggests the use of 60% of the budget for activities for communities, 15% for salaries and the remaining to technical support and travels.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
Johann Barnard, 082 551 1414, johann@paprikacom.co.za
Sizo Majola, 0860 727 7452, sizo@paprikacom.co.za
Simon Moore, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, 01273 718744, smoore@aidsalliance.org
About the International HIV/AIDS Alliance
The mission of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance (the Alliance) is to support communities to reduce the spread of HIV and to meet the challenges of AIDS.
Established in 1993, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance (the Alliance) is a global partnership of nationally-based organisations working to support community action on AIDS.
These national partners help local community groups and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to take action on AIDS, and are supported by technical expertise, policy work and fundraising carried out across the Alliance. In addition to community and country-based programmes, the Alliance also has extensive regional programmes and works on a range of international activities such as support for South–South cooperation, operations research, training and good practice development, as well policy analysis and advocacy.
The organisations in the International HIV/AIDS Alliance are extremely well placed to begin to address challenges to civil society organisations in making effective use of international funding, with their experience both in providing technical support to community organisations (particularly to marginalised groups), and their knowledge of international AIDS funding mechanisms.
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