Joint UN Support to the Provincial HIV/AIDS Operational Plan of Zambézia Province
Joint UN Support to the Provincial HIV/AIDS Operational Plan of Zambézia Province is a project that aims to contribute to reducing individual, family, and community vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in Mozambique. The project focuses on prevention among young people and seeks to reduce the impact of the epidemic for people living with HIV/AIDS and for AIDS orphans by improving the quality and coverage of essential services.
This project is part of the Southern African Youth (SAY) Initiative. SAY is a sub-regional HIV and AIDS initiative through which the United Nations Foundation (UNF), the United Nations Fund for International Partnership (UNFIP), and UNAIDS seek to support and scale up HIV/AIDS interventions among young people in southern Africa. Mozambique project objectives include:
- introducing and supporting quality youth-friendly integrated health services in at least 12 facilities
- facilitating access on the part of adolescents and youth to life-saving information and skills through improved life skills and sexual education, especially through in- and out-of-school peer education and communication programmes
- increasing awareness of HIV and AIDS and developing community capacity to prevent HIV/AIDS and develop better coping strategies
- fostering access on the part of members of selected communities to microfinancing services.
Communication Strategies
Project activities include:
- reproductive health services
- life skills education
- peer educator training
- young people as active change agents
- community mobilisation and capacity-building
- micro-financing activities
In 2002, the school-based programme reached 62 schools in 7 districts and trained 721 peer educators and 360 teachers. The project was estimated to have reached 50,000 students, but reached a total of 18,000 young people after it established youth centres and clinical counselling services.
Development Issues
HIV/AIDS, Reproductive Health, Youth.
Key Points
SAY comprises 9 independent projects located in 8 of southern Africa's most severely affected countries, as well as a sub-regional technical support project (Telling the Story). Through the work of UN country teams, SAY aims to catalyse innovative and expanded national responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic to meet the needs of youth in southern Africa, especially girls, who are most vulnerable to HIV infection.
The project was a direct response of the UN System to the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on HIV/AIDS/STD, 2000-2002. The Zambezia provincial plan on HIV/AIDS, which is being developed as of this writing, is expected to provide a guiding framework for this project. The project is one of the first UN joint responses to HIV/AIDS in Mozambique; as such, it is expected to inform future strategies for UN collaboration in this area. A key effort will be creating linkages with 2 of the 3 other investments of UNF in Mozambique, namely MicroStart Project through UNDP, and Gender Mainstreaming through UNIFEM and UNFPA.
Zambézia was selected as the project site given the well-known correlation between high HIV prevalence and indicators of social welfare, health, and economic productivity. That is, this province has a high rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence, high level of poverty, and a large population (it is the most populated area of the country with approximately 3.1 million people).
The project was a direct response of the UN System to the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on HIV/AIDS/STD, 2000-2002. The Zambezia provincial plan on HIV/AIDS, which is being developed as of this writing, is expected to provide a guiding framework for this project. The project is one of the first UN joint responses to HIV/AIDS in Mozambique; as such, it is expected to inform future strategies for UN collaboration in this area. A key effort will be creating linkages with 2 of the 3 other investments of UNF in Mozambique, namely MicroStart Project through UNDP, and Gender Mainstreaming through UNIFEM and UNFPA.
Zambézia was selected as the project site given the well-known correlation between high HIV prevalence and indicators of social welfare, health, and economic productivity. That is, this province has a high rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence, high level of poverty, and a large population (it is the most populated area of the country with approximately 3.1 million people).
Partners
UNFPA, UNICEF, UNFPA/UNIFEM, and UNDP.
Sources
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