Calling on political leaders to uphold priorities and commit to bold, new targets 

2011 High Level Meeting on Aids
Three decades into the AIDS pandemic and ten years after the adoption of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, the world will come together to review progress and plan the future course of the global AIDS response at the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS from
8 –10 June 2011 in New York. The 2011 Review comes at a turning point in the AIDS response, as a critical opportunity to identify progress and renew the political commitment to sustain the response, and to chart the way forward. 

The Outcome Document that will emerge from the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS will be the roadmap in the years leading up to 2015, the final year of the Millennium Development Goals. STOP AIDS NOW! calls on political leaders to uphold priorities in the global AIDS response and to commit to bold, new targets. This includes a better integration of the HIV response with sexual and reproductive health and rights and... 

What's new?

Getting ahead of the wave: Lessons for the Next Decade of the AIDS Response
A report released earlier this month today by  Doctors Without Borders revealed that several countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic are improving HIV treatment to reduce deaths and illness,  but a lack of support from donors prevents many from making vital changes. This fragile progress needs sustained support, but the two biggest AIDS donors, the US and UK, are opposing a critical HIV treatment target ahead of next month’s AIDS Summit in New York at a time when mounting evidence shows that HIV treatment can also prevent HIV infections.
Click here to download the report...

Research

Are we on the right track? STOP AIDS NOW! evaluates its resources!
In order to improve and further develop the way we share knowledge, we are conducting an evaluation of our efforts so far. Stella Tiendrebeogo, master student in Health Promotion and Health Education at the Maastricht University is in charge of the research. She is currently running a questionnaire among local partners. The outcomes should give us a better insight into their opinions about the content of our products. Besides we aim to get a better idea of the level of dissemination and implementation.

Even under heavily challenging circumstances, simple collaboration could significantly improve efforts to link HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights
STOP AIDS NOW! recently completed a study in Burundi and DR Congo to explore how to support local organisations to link HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) effectively in their work. Eleven organisations in Burundi and 30 in DRC participated in the study. The study found...

Understanding the needs of adolescents living with HIV in Zambia
A qualitative study  by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and partners in 2010 documented the psychosocial, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of adolescents (10-19) living with HIV in Zambia and looked to identify gaps between these needs and existing SRH and HIV-related initiatives and services currently available to young people.
Many of the respondents are determined not to let HIV alter their lives but they face particular challenges...

Meet & Greet:Thembi Nkambule, director SWANNEPHA (implementing partner of the Dreamfund Programme) 

For this edition of the newsletter we have interviewed Thembi Nkambule. She is the National Director of the Swaziland National Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS and a strong advocate for community mobilisation.

"Community mobilisation is about working with communities to support them in identifying their needs and challenges, as well as working with them to advocate for change and to solve problems. Rather than relying on external support, it is about communities identifying and addressing their own issues". 

Get inspired by Thembi's story and learn all about the do's and don'ts when it comes to involing and mobilising the community...

Resources 

• Psychosocial Support Source Book for Vulnerable Children in Malawi
  This Source Book is a practical guide for service providers working with children in Malawi. It aims to improve psychosocial support services to orphans and other vulnerable children, by bringing together available knowledge and experiences in a user-friendly manner.
• Managing HIV and AIDS in South Indian NGOs: Experiences and Lessons Learnt
  This end report of the applied research presents the experiences of the STOP AIDS NOW! project ‘Managing HIV and AIDS in the Workplace’ in 35 NGOs in South India that lasted from 2007 to 2010.
• Strengthening the Malawi Social Cash Transfer Scheme through Linking and Learning
  In order to mitigate the economic and psychosocial impact of HIV and AIDS related illness and death of Orphans and Vulnerable Children and their caretakers, four Malawian NGOs and the Chitipa District Assembly joint efforts to strengthening the Social Cash Transfer programme within their country. This research report reveals the encouraging outcomes of their one year linking and learning project.

Upcoming events

• 8-10 June: UNGASS high-level meeting, USA > URGENT ACTION NOW!
  Sign on and use: "zero draft" civil society declaration for AIDS High Level Meeting (HLM)
  Based on consultations by national, regional and global AIDS advocates, a set of civil society 'asks' of governments to respond to HIV and AIDS has been developed to provide a coordinated approach to negotiations for the outcome declaration from the UN General Assembly Comprehensive AIDS Review HLM. Action: sign on to the declaration and use it for negotiations you’re your government!
• 11-13 June: 1st International HIV Social Science & Humanities Conference, South Africa
• 13-17 June: 2011 Global Health Council Annual Conference, USA
• 14-16 June: INTRAC Conference - Monitoring and evaluation: new developments and challenges, The Netherlands
• 17-20 July: 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, Italy
• 22-26 August: 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, South Korea
• 12-15 September: AIDSImpact, USA