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PSI Shares Lessons Learned
at PEPFAR Conference
KIGALI, Rwanda — PSI had a strong presence at the 2007 HIV/AIDS Implementers
Meeting, co-sponsored
by PEPFAR, The Global Fund, UNAIDS, UNICEF, The World Bank and WHO,
held here June 16th-19th. Lessons learned and best practices were shared
among the more than 2,000 international delegates.
This year’s conference
theme was “Scaling Up Through Partnerships.”
PSI staff from eight countries — Zambia, Russia, India, Rwanda, South
Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria — delivered a total
of four oral presentations and eight Asiaposter presentations. PSI/Rwanda
had the strongest conference presence, with four presentations (two
oral, two posters).
The range of presented topics highlighted PSI’s diverse approaches
to implementation. Papers examined mobile, static and workplace VCT,
community mobilization and interpersonal
communication, private sector and religious leader partnerships,
and work with hard-to-reach and high-risk communities such as bisexual
men, female sex workers, and “hotspots” and “high-transmission zones”.
The oral presentations were given on
“Mobile, Static and Workplace VCT: an Integrated Approach to HIV Counselling
and Testing in Lesotho,” “Reaching Hidden
Pockets of Bisexual
Men: Lessons Learned from a Partnership with Community-Based MSM Organization,”
on “Engaging Local
Female Sex Workers to Identify Strategies for Promoting Safer Sexual
Behavior in Rwanda” and “Engaging
Religious Leaders in Integrated Approach to Prevention of HIV/AIDS
and Unplanned Pregnancies in Rwanda.”
Speaking about partnerships on the conference’s opening day, U.S. Global
AIDS Coordinator Mark Dybul
said: “We are rejecting the old and flawed donor-recipient approach
and replacing it with partnership. Partnership
is rooted in hope for, and faith
in, people. Partnership means honest relationships
between peoples based in mutual respect, understanding, and trust,
with obligations and responsibilities
for each partner.”
Prevention was an important focus as well. “Globally, for every one
person who starts on antiretroviral therapy today, another six become
infected
with HIV,” said Michel Sibide, deputy executive director of UNAIDS.
Selected presentations are available in Kaiser Network’s healthcasts
on www.kaisernetwork.org. For more information
about the conference, go to www.hivimplementers.com.
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