After two years of collaboration and partnership with the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, CiSHAN – a national network of civil society organisations working on HIV in Nigeria – has started the process of becoming a linking organisation of the Alliance. Welcome to the family!

The International HIV/AIDS Alliance is working closely with government and civil society partners to deliver HIV projects in Uganda in its new role as Technical Management Agent for Uganda’s Civil Society Fund. The new role will see the Alliance working with Uganda’s Ministry of Health, its Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and local government to develop technical support systems to scale up community-based HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services.

From 10 to 12 September 2008, hundreds of policy makers, activists, people living with HIV, sex workers and men who have sex with men gathered in Phnom Penh for Cambodia’s third National AIDS Conference, jointly organised by KHANA, the Alliance’s linking organisation in Cambodia. Participants discussed Cambodia’s progress on HIV and examined challenges and solutions for the future as part of the conference theme, ‘A greater multi-sectoral response to HIV and AIDS: towards universal access in Cambodia’.

A study by HASAB, the Alliance’s linking organisation in Bangladesh has highlighted that the country lacks an effective, coordinated policy action plan to address HIV and tuberculosis co-infection. The study also discovered a lack of public information about the risk of co-infection and inadequate skills among health care service providers to address the issue, and makes recommendations on how to improve the situation.

16-year-old student Christian Peters usually travels the 560km journey from the UK to see his family in Germany by aeroplane. This year he decided to reduce his carbon footprint by cycling the journey instead, raising money for the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and two other charities along the way. Christian tells us more about his experience.

The UK secretariat is moving offices and Alliance secretariat staff will not be contactable by telephone or email on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 October while moving takes place. The new offices will open at 10.00am on Monday 6 October, when normal service will resume. Don't forget to update your address book! Email addresses and phone numbers will remain unchanged.

The International HIV/AIDS Alliance and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have jointly published a report that aims to increase understanding of the interventions that the Global Fund would like to see prioritised in its country proposals. Using a series of case studies, the report illustrates the range of programmes that the Global Fund has prioritised for funding.

The conference, which took place in Bali, Indonesia in May 2008 brought together nearly 400 participants from 25 countries, who shared their experiences and expertise in managing reproductive health programmes. The event was a collaborative effort between PHANSuP, the Alliance's linking organisation in the Philippines, UNFPA Indonesia, the National Family Planning Coordination Board of Indonesia and the International Movement of Reproductive Health Managers and Advocates.