Mumbai: Organizations fighting HIV/AIDS in India Join Together

[Guest guest]

From: KIM MARTIN <KMARTIN@...>

Subject: Organizations fighting HIV/AIDS in India Join Together

Contact: Kim 410 659-6140

ORGANIZATIONS FIGHTING HIV/AIDS IN INDIA JOIN TOGETHER TO

COORDINATE ACTIVITIES IN MAHARASHTRA STATE MUMBAI,

India: More than 30 participants representing various organizations engaged in

the fight against HIV/AIDS came together to work as a team at a Partners'

meeting in Maharashtra hosted by the Health Communication Partnership (HCP), a

global program implemented under the leadership of the s Hopkins Bloomberg

School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs (CCP).

The Partners' meeting is a forum convened by organizations working on HIV/AIDS

prevention, care, and support to ensure coordination and collaboration among all

the various players: government agencies,

NGOs, community-based organizations, USAID-funded cooperating agencies, UN

agencies, selected donors, and the corporate sector. Within India, Maharashtra

State has the highest number of people living with HIV, almost 50 percent of all

known cases in India.

HIV prevalence in the State is estimated to be 1.75 percent, close to twice the

national average. Among high-risk groups, up to 60 percent of sex workers in

Mumbai, the State capital, are HIV positive.

Meri Sinnitt, Deputy Director of USAID/Delhi's Office of Population, Health and

Nutrition, welcomed the participants. During the well-attended meeting, each

organization shared updates about their current HIV/AIDS-related work,

especially in the area of > behavior change communication.

HCP Director Rimon II shared experiences of evidence-based

strategic health communication programs in five countries: South Africa,

Honduras, Ghana, Zambia, and Baltimore City (land).

Some key lessons learned from the five countries are: 1) the importance of

political commitment from government leaders; 2) the evidence that behavior

change can be influenced and even predicted; 3) the critical need for

evidence-based programming and design of

interventions; 4) the effective use of entertainment-education approaches; 5)

the need for public-private sector partnerships to achieve scale; 6) the

appreciation that the young and youth are

critical segments that need to be reached; 7) the involvement of affected groups

in the design of interventions; and 8) the inclusion of community and

faith-based groups in program design and implementation.

" All the different partners working to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in

Maharashtra understand that we can only succeed if we work> together as a team, "

said Sonalini Mirchandani, HCP Country Director. " Together each of us can

achieve more. Hence, the need for this regular Partner's meeting hosted by

different organizations. "

Copies of the newly published book, Strategic Communication

in the HIV/AIDS Epidemic, written by CCP experts Neill Mckee, Jane Bertrand, and

Antje Becker-Benton, were shared with each organization active in the Partner's

meeting.

HCP is a global communication initiative based at CCP in partnership

with the Academy for Educational Development, Save the Children, the

International HIV/AIDS Alliance, and Tulane University's School of Public Health

and Tropical Medicine.

In addition to the five core partners, HCP works with leading Southern-based

health communication organizations as well as global

programming partners from the corporate sector, international media, academic

institutions, and faith-based organizations. For more information, visit

www.hcpartnership.org .

With representatives in more than 30 countries, s Hopkins' CCP

partners with organizations worldwide to design and implement strategic

communication programs that influence political dialogue, collective action, and

individual behavior change; enhance access to

information and the exchange of knowledge to improve health and health care; and

conduct research to guide program design, evaluate impact, and advance knowledge

and practice in health communication.

For more information, visit www.jhuccp.org

Edford G Mutuma

E-mail: <edfordm@...>