National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS

COLOMBO: The National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP) of the Ministry of Health is preparing the National Strategic Plan for 2007-2011, in its continuous efforts to minimise the spread of HIV/ AIDS in Sri Lanka.

As a prerequisite for this process, it has organised a consultative workshop with NGOs and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) based island-wide and working on HIV/AIDS with their communities, to obtain inputs from grassroots for the proposed Strategic Plan.

This workshop is to be held later this month at the National HIV/AIDS Prevention Project Conference Hall in Colombo. It will be organised by Alliance Lanka in partnership with NSACP, supported by the Commonwealth Foundation UK.

Commonwealth Foundation supported Alliance Lanka to conduct a capacity building workshop on HIV/AIDS for NGOs/CSOs in partnership with the Ministry of Health late last month.

This was the first of a series of capacity building workshops for civil society organisations working on HIV/AIDS prevention. The workshop was aimed at improving NGO skills in key areas identified by civil society during a consultation held in December 2006.

Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva while inaugurating the workshop said the Government is committed to fight the AIDS pandemic.

Observing that Governments and politicians had difficulty in broaching the topic with the public he urged civil society organisations to use their position within local communities to help authorities in their battle against HIV/AIDS.

The areas covered during the 3-day workshop, held at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research & Institute in Colombo, included interpersonal communication, advocacy skills, clinical aspects of HIV/AIDS, development of educational and training material, training peer leaders, conducting focus group discussions and monitoring & evaluation.

Dr Sujatha Samarakoon, Consultant Venereologist at the National STD/AIDS Control Programme pointed out that in the past different bodies had worked at cross purposes. She said that the Health and Education Ministries are now working on an effective mechanism to address this issue.

There were 838 reported HIV infections by the end of 2006 in Sri Lanka, and authorities estimate 5,000 people to be carrying the virus. This figure can be much higher since a person infected can generally live with the virus undetected for 10-15 years before any symptoms appear. This period is the danger zone since the person can unknowingly spread the virus.

Mapping out a way forward, participants identified a number of areas for action. These include: Educating parents, Counselling and social/ livelihood support for people with HIV/AIDS, Addressing the shortage of trained counsellors and creating awareness among media personnel.

The Executive Director of Alliance Lanka, Swarna Kodagoda said a co-operative effort is needed by all parties working on HIV/ AIDS prevention in Sri Lanka to ensure a strong and cohesive strategy to combat the pandemic and strengthen the national response.

This initiative is part of the Foundation's commitment to Sri Lanka ahead of the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific which will be held in Colombo in August this year.