The SAfAIDS “I Know, Do you Know?†Campaign for #EndingAdolescentsAIDS in South Africa is targeted at generating increased debate and discussion on the importance of knowing one’s HIV status as an entry point for HIV prevention, treatment, adherence, care and psycho-social support. The campaign will serve as a platform to mobilize Adolescents to take up HIV testing and treatment, encourage uptake of other combination prevention programmes like Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision and offer Psychosocial support associated with adolescent disclosure as well as provision of family planning services for those who require them.
DREAMS: Partnership to Reduce HIV/AIDS in Adolescent Girls and Young Women
Adolescent Girls and Young Women Health for Life 360â—¦ (AGYW HFL 360â—¦) Initiative.
SAfAIDS is a partner in the DREAMS Consortium in Zimbabwe, and will implement the Adolescent Girls and Young Women Health for Life 360â—¦ (AGYW HFL 360â—¦) program in six (Bulawayo, Chipinge, Gweru, Makoni, Mazowe, Mutare) districts of Zimbabwe; contributing to the global DREAMS Initiative goal of reducing new HIV infections amongst AGYW through risk reduction and knowledge and skills building in a two-pronged approach: in-school and out-of-school community based. SAfAIDS is also Consortium Point of Contact (POC) for Bulawayo district.
The DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe) Initiative is an ambitious $385 million partnership to reduce HIV infection among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in HIV priority areas within Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The 10 DREAMS countries, all in sub-Saharan Africa, accounted for nearly half of the new HIV infections that occurred among AGYW globally in 2014.
Girls and young women account for over 70 percent of new HIV infections among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, and nearly 1,000 AGYW are infected with HIV every day. Social isolation, economic disadvantage, discriminatory cultural norms, orphanhood, gender-based violence, and school drop-out all contribute to girls’ vulnerability to HIV. The DREAMS initiative goes beyond health to address these factors – a key to reaching the Sustainable Development Goal of ending AIDS by 2030.
The DREAMS Innovation Challenge [PDF, 1.7MB] seeks solutions to strengthening capacity for service delivery, keeping girls in secondary school, linking men to services, supporting pre-exposure prophylaxis, providing a bridge to employment, applying data to increase impact and offering sustainable solutions that may be scaled or replicated, and deploying solutions rapidly.
DREAMS builds upon the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) decades of experience empowering young women and advancing gender equality across the sectors of global health, education, and economic growth. USAID partners with community, faith-based, and non-governmental organizations whose credibility within communities and capacity to mobilize significant numbers of volunteers allow USAID to address the structural inequalities impacting girls’ vulnerability to HIV.
Scaling up evidence-based interventions across multiple sectors will allow USAID to accelerate efforts to achieve an AIDS-free generation. By the end of 2017, DREAMS will achieve a 40 percent reduction in HIV incidence among women and girls ages 15–24 in the hardest-hit areas of the 10 DREAMS countries.
As the leading implementer of the DREAMS package, USAID will support:
- HIV testing and counseling for nearly 528,000 AGYW
- Education subsidies for almost 88,000 AGYW
- Post-violence care for more than 113,000 AGYW survivors of gender-based violence
- School-based HIV and violence prevention programs for approximately 684,000Â AGYW
- Pre-exposure prophylaxis for more than 10,500 AGYW
- Condom promotion and provision for almost 1.7 million AGYW and their partners
- Improved access to youth friendly sexual and reproductive health services and the full range of contraceptive methods
- Parenting/caregiver programs for more than 281,000 people
DREAMS is supported by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Girl Effect, Johnson & Johnson, Gilead Sciences, and ViiV Healthcare.
Additional Resources
- PEPFAR and DREAMS Partners Announce Winners of the $85 Million DREAMS Innovation Challenge
- Read more about USAID’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment programming
- Learn more about the DREAMS Core Package (link is external)
- Discover PEPFAR’s Gender Strategy to reach HIV/AIDS epidemic control
Rock Leadership ‘90’: Strengthening Capacity of Traditional Leaders to Champion & Lead the Community Response to Ending AIDS in Africa
Why the Rock Leadership ‘90’ project?
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UNAIDS set Fast Track targets on HIV prevention and treatment that are aimed at ending AIDS by 2030. These include reducing new infections to 500,000 and 200,000 by 2021 and 2030 respectively. By 2020 it is however hoped that 90% of people will know their HIV status, 90% are on treatment and 90% of them with viral suppression. These fast track targets have now been coined the “90*90*90*†goals.
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 In pursuit of these 90*90*90 targets to be achieved by 2020, SAfAIDS will launch the Rock Leadership 90 Programme. A programme that aims to strengthen the capacity of 120 Traditional Leaders in 4 Countries to Champion and lead the response to the ending of HIV by 2030. Once the leaders have been capacitated they will be able to lead their respective communities under the auspices of the “Village to Village I know my HIV Status. Do You? 90*90*90 Campaign. The V2V I Know Campaign is thus an opportunity for religious, traditional and other leaders to engage with their communities to increase uptake of HTS.
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Rock Leadership 90 Project Goal is to:
The overall goal of this intervention is to strengthen the community response towards the achievement of Fast Track targets for Ending AIDS; through capacitating community leadership to Champion the End of AIDS, in Southern Africa, by 2017.
Project Objectives:
The project seeks to achieve the following 4 specific objectives:
- Build an evidence base, through community-led mapping of the local HIV response, including critical structures that are and can support the response and perceptions around HIV risk
- Strengthen the capacity of 120 traditional leaders in 60 communities (15 per country) to guide the local AIDS response in their communities leveraging the inherent strength of the communities to define and lead their own response
- Motivate and support 120 traditional leaders and local CSO partners to mobilize 90% of men and their families for HIV testing and linkage to care, access to pediatric ART and PMTCT to reach at least 90% of children, adolescents and pregnant mothers within the 60 targeted communities
- Create a regional platform for linking, learning and sharing of promising practices on HIV community led responses for possible replication at national and regional level.
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Target Group and BeneficiariesÂ
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Primary Target Group: Traditional, Religious and other Community Leaders in Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Secondary Target Group: Community Based organisations
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5. Geographical Coverage:
The project is being implemented in 4 countries in the districts listed below:
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Province |
District |
Malawi |
Zomba |
Swaziland |
Hhohho, Manzini, Shisweleni and Lubombo |
Zambia |
Kazungula |
Zimbabwe |
Marondera and Seke |
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How Will Rock Leadership ‘90’ Be Delivered?Â
The programme is based on an evidence based model where the community response is determined by the needs of the community through consultative approach. The model is reflected below:
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The Change We Expect Includes:
The project is anticipated to realize the following long-term results:
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- Increased Uptake of HIV testing for all community members and access to ART referral for children, adolescence and pregnant women in 4 countries in Southern Africa to reach at least 90% of people within the targeted 60 communities by 2017Â
- Reduction in new HIV infections and improved health of communities leading to an end to AIDS
- Improved participation and commitment by community leaders to leading the community response to ending HIV.
- The development of community based responses to HIV and HIV related issues, led by the communities.
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Knowledge for Action: The Power to Make a Difference!
Changing the River’s Flow – A gender Transformative Programme for Young People (CTRF 4 YP) (2015-2017)
Changing the River’s Flow – A gender Transformative Programme for Young People (CTRF 4 YP) (2015-2017)
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Why the Changing the Rivers Flow for Young People (CTRF4YP) project?
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Zimbabwe is mainly a patriarchal society in which boys and girls are taught from early childhood to internalize societal messages about how males and females are expected to behave, who makes decisions, and where power dynamics lie. These behaviors contribute to reinforcing unequal gender roles and responsibilities that culminate into high risk of HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases. Such norms among young men and boys include early sexual activity, multiple sex partners, gender based violence and sexual dominance that increase vulnerability to contracting and spreading HIV. Despite growing understanding that gender transformation, including shifting gender power dynamics and norms are critical to realizing sexual and reproductive health, very few interventions have attempted to effectively address these norms in a sustainable and large scale fashion
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It is against this background that SAfAIDS in partnership with Sonke Gender Justice is implementing a 2 year gender programme that seeks to transform gender roles and promote more gender-equitable relationships between young men and young women to reduce HIV, GBV and promote positive SRHR entitled: Changing the River’s Flow- A gender Transformative Program for Young People (CTRF 4 YP) within, hard to reach areas like farms and mining communities in Zimbabwe.
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CTRF4YP Project Goal is to:
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The project seeks to advance gender transformative work to reduce HIV, GBV, teen pregnancies and barriers to access to sexual and reproductive health rights among boys and girls (10-24 years) in Zimbabwe by 2017.Â
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Project Objectives:
The project seeks to achieve the following 5 specific objectives:
- Strengthened capacity of SAfAIDS staff and its 4 local partners by Sonke on gender norms transformation theory, programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
- Strengthened capacity of 720 young people (10-24years), both female and males, in and out of 24 schools (6 per district) to practice equitable gender norms, practices and attitudes that reduce HIV, GBV and impact positively on the SRH outcomes in Zimbabwe by 2017
- Strengthened capacity of 300 community leaders (including religious and traditional leaders) and 200 parents to reduce harmful cultural and religious practices that promote inequitable gender norms, risk for HIV and GBV among young people, both females and males, in Zimbabwe by 2017
- Undertake policy advocacy and provide technical input into national policy review and development processes.
- Evidence generated, to promote innovation and learning on gender transformation to address HIV, GBV prevention among young people, both females and males, in Zimbabwe by 2017
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Target Group and BeneficiariesÂ
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The programme targets adolescent boys and girls (10-14 years) and young people (aged15-24 years). A total of 720 young people will be reached directly with interventions in the four districts namely Chiredzi, Hwange, Nyanga and Seke.  In total 10 000 adolescents and young people in hard to reach areas that include farming and mining will be reached including young people living with HIV (YPLHIV) and those living with disabilities. Â
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Secondary target groups include institutions that work with adolescent and young boys and girls in transformative work, the gate keepers and the circle of care of young people: traditional, religious, and political leaders, service providers, government representative, teachers, parents/guardians and care givers, within the programme districts.
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5. Geographical Coverage:
The project is being implemented in 4 provinces and 4 districts as follows:
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Province |
District |
Mashonaland East |
Seke district |
Matabeleland North |
Hwange rural/urban district |
Manicaland |
Nyanga district |
Masvingo |
Chiredzi district |
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How Will CTRF4YP Be Delivered?Â
The programme draws from the Sonke’s gender transformative approach and SAfAIDS’ Changing the River’s Flow Models that transform gender relations to promote equality through critical reflections and questioning of institutional practices and broader social norms found in Zimbabwe. The programme is based on the following 5 main pillars:
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The Change We Expect Includes:
The project is anticipated to realize the following long-term results:
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- Institutions and organizations integrate and/or undertake gender transformative work that engages both women, girls, men and boys in addressing GBV and HIV, and promoting SRHR in the project communities by 2017
- Increased gender equality norms, better attitudes and practices demonstrated and self-reported by young people (10-24 years) both boys and girls within project communities by 2017
- Improved participation and commitment by community leaders and parents in addressing harmful traditional practices & social norms for improved gender equality in project communities by 2017.Â
- Policies and strategies that address SRHR, HIV and GBV needs of young men and boys
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SAfAIDS believes that gender transformation does not happen overnight but might take time to see changes in these patriarchal societal norms and rules that are currently perpetuating gender inequalities in Zimbabwe.
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Knowledge for Action: The Power to Make a Difference!
Teachers Tackle HIV in School-going Adolescent Girls
MAKONI, 28 June 2016 (SAfAIDS) – Mazuru Passwell is one of the first 160 of 800 teachers to be trained in Zimbabwe, by SAfAIDS, under the DREAMS Initiative, to reduce new HIV infections in adolescent girls by 40% in two years. Teachers are being capacitated to deliver comprehensive HIV and GBV prevention in 30-minute Guidance and Counselling lessons.
Top Scientist Trains Sights on Getting HIV Vaccine, Cure
NAIROBI, 22 September 2016 (allAfrica) – One Kenyan may soon place the country as the first nation whose citizen found a vaccine and a cure for HIV. Prof Thumbi Ndung’u – head of Kwazulu Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV pathogenesis — has been studying the virus for 27 years, as well as tracking the scientific developments aimed at finding a cure and vaccine for AIDS.
He noted that in 2013, at one of the world’s greatest scientists’ gathering called Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, a “Mississippi baby” was announced to have been cured of HIV. The baby was born to a positive mother who had not received any treatment during pregnancy.
Positive Talk Live Chat: The Cheating quandary!!!!
SAfAIDS Media Desk, 19 August 2016 – Against the backdrop of many reported cases of partner cheating that are being witnessed on a day today basis, Positive Talk Live Chat put this issue for discussion in order to bring to light why the trend seem to be increasing at an alarming rate. It was revealed that in the modern day, cheating has taken a whole new twist, whereby it is much harder to catch a cheating spouse because they don’t have to stay out late making an excuse. No funny/ suspicious behaviour is revealed around their spouses; thereby cheating partners are rarely caught as they play their games smartly.
South Africa: Number of HIV+ Babies Born in SA Less Than Half UK Guardian’s
PRETORIA, 6 September 2016 (allAfrica) – An old figure quoted by the UK’s Guardian newspaper overstates the share of HIV+ mothers transmitting the virus to their babies in South Africa. Reporting on Mothers to Mothers, a non-profit support group for HIV positive mothers, the Guardian’s Global Development network for professional reported that “in South Africa, mother-to-child transmission of HIV has fallen to 3.5%”.The Guardian
Africa: Global Fund Rolls Out Strategic Actions for Gender Equality Initiative
NEW YORK, 7 September 2016 (allAfrica) – As part of its new strategy for 2017-2022, the Global Fund has placed increased emphasis on rights and gender. One of the four strategic objectives focuses directly on promoting and protecting human rights and gender equality, aiming to scale up programs to support women and girls (including programs to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights) and invest to reduce health inequities (including gender and age-related disparities).
Launch of the Village to Village- I Know My HIV Status- Do you? 90 x 90 x 90 Campaign in Marondera District
Chief Seke and Chief Svosve during the launch session
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On the 2nd of August 2016, SAfAIDS in partnership with Seke Rural Home based Care with support from UNAIDS ESA, launched the Rock leadership 90 V2V campaign in Marondera district at Chief Svosve’s rural homestead. More than 350 people attended the event. The launch was also used as a platform to provide integrated HTS, targeting men, women, adolescents and children from the community to know their HIV status.<p?>
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