Brazil

Brazil is home to the largest number of people living with HIV of any country in the region, estimated at 620,000 people. More than half of all the cases are concentrated in Sao Paulo state. HIV rates among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics has remained below 1%, with little variation over the past five years. This is partly a testament to the prevention programmes mounted in Brazil since the 1990s.

Nonetheless, HIV prevalence rates of 3–6% have been measured in Rio Grande do Sul among women who have only rare access to the public health system. This has raised fears that serious epidemics might be underway among certain disenfranchised communities but remain undetected.

For the most part, the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Brazil is concentrated among specific high-risk groups, such as men who have sex with men and sex workers. An exception to this is in south-eastern Brazil, where the epidemic has now reached the general population.

What we do

The Alliance programme started in 1999 in two states in the south east of the country, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, at the request of local non-governmental organisations to strengthen their organisational capacity and long-term sustainability using funds available from the World Bank.

The programme focused on building the organisational capacity of Brazilian non-governmental organisations with particular emphasis on the development of strategic partnerships and institutional sustainability. From the states of Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, the programme expanded to five more states in the north east – Pernambuco, Paraiba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceara and Maranhao – and to two new states in the south east – Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo.

During 2004, the Alliance provided technical assistance to organisations from the state of Sao Paulo that did not participate in the earlier process (50% of HIV cases are concentrated in this area). Our work focused on building organisational and programme sustainability, starting with training on undertaking participatory site assessments and going on to issues like strategic planning and resource mobilisation.

What we have achieved

In total, 98 non-governmental and community-based organisations have been mobilised to start or increase their HIV-related programmes, and 19 technical support providers have been trained to carry out participatory training processes and provide ongoing technical support to beneficiary organisations. This horizontal model has proved itself to be successful as a way to deliver technical assistance.

In 2003, the Alliance secretariat worked with ABIA to produce a Portuguese version of the Alliance’s NGO Support Toolkit (available in hard copy, CD-ROM and online). This is a library of reports, manuals, toolkits, books and other information in Portuguese that gives non-governmental organisations access to years of experience from other organisations. In 2005, ABIA produced Portuguese adaptations of the Alliance's Documentation and Communication, and Pathways to Partnerships toolkits.

Future plans

A new project, 'Thinking about the future', is planned to start in 2007 and to last for one year. It is designed to help young people (13-18 year olds who have been living with HIV since childhood) to reflect and write about their past experiences and future hopes, in a bilingual magazine called 'Saber Viver Jovem' (Youth Savoir Faire). The project will be led by Saber Viver, in collaboration with Pela Vidda.