Anchoring Awareness in the Community - Handicap International

2. An ambitious project
Part
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Although in this document we will specifically
discuss the community awareness aspect, the
project for improving HIV/AIDS prevention
and treatment in the Djibouti-Ethiopia-
Somaliland cross-border region, which this
awareness program is part of, is extremely
vast. Here, we will merely summarize details
available from the different six-month activity
reports 3 .
MAIN PROJECT ELEMENTS
In spite of the context of populations that are
highly mobile between the three countries, the
public health authorities of Djibouti, Ethiopia
and Somaliland have not yet developed a
cooperative action plan to fight the epidemic.
Implemented by Handicap International in
Ethiopia and Somaliland, this project thus
complements another project: “Support for
the Fight against HIV/AIDS in Djibouti,” which is
financed by the French Agency for Development
and implemented by the Health Ministry of
Djibouti. It aims to implement cooperative
actions between the three countries in order
to mitigate HIV/AIDS propagation and
encourage long-term patient care and
follow-up of infected individuals on both
sides of the border. In addition, awareness
actions and the reinforcement of counseling
and voluntary testing are being implemented
in each country along the traffic corridors.
Area of intervention:
d Ethiopia (Dire Dawa, Somalia region, Afar
region)
d Somaliland (western area, between Hargeisa
and Togwajaale)
Targets:
d The adult population (over 15 years old) of
the regions concerned: this group benefited
from awareness activities and an improvement
in the availability of counseling and testing
services.
d Persons diagnosed with HIV/AIDS: they
benefited from an improvement in the extent
and quality of treatment, including continued
access to treatment in the areas covered by
the project.
d Local partners: community organizations,
religious and community leaders and
associations of persons living with HIV
were trained in the techniques of increasing
community awareness of HIV/AIDS and how
to communicate about the disease. Health
workers were trained in counseling and testing
techniques, as well as in how to treat persons
infected with HIV.
3. General project documents (reasoning, activity reports, etc.) are available in the Project Documents directory of the Toolbox on the Capitalization
DVD-ROM.
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