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Building Community Capacity for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Conhecimento é Poder (Knowledge is Power) Lichinga, Niass

Mozambique. Building Community Capacity for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Conhecimento é Poder (Knowledge is Power) Lichinga, Niassa Province, Mozambique. Lichinga, . Niassa Province,. Mozambique. About the Region.

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Building Community Capacity for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Conhecimento é Poder (Knowledge is Power) Lichinga, Niass

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  1. Mozambique Building Community Capacity for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Conhecimento é Poder (Knowledge is Power) Lichinga, Niassa Province, Mozambique

  2. Lichinga, Niassa Province, Mozambique

  3. About the Region • Niassa, a province located in the northwest corner of Mozambique, is large, remote, rural, & sparsely populated. • Africa is home to 70% of the adults and 80% of the children living with HIV infection in the world. • Many people living in Niassa were refugees in neighboring countries with extremely high rates of HIV infection during its destabilization period (1980-1992). • Life expectancy projections in Mozambique for the year 2010 were dropped from 50.3 to 36 years. • Social and economic inequalities experienced by women. • Limited or non-existent access to prevention and care services (Statistics from UNAIDS Country Brief, 28 June 2003, and the Mozambique Ministry of Health).

  4. Current Professional Team • Rebecca Vander Meulen, Public Health Professional

  5. Project Description • To educate health care workers, teachers, students, communities, and other groups about HIV prevention and care in order to impede the spread of HIV/AIDS, confront the detrimental effects of discrimination and ostracization of people living with HIV/AIDS, and increase the level of understanding of HIV/AIDS and the availability of HIV/AIDS services and resources in the Niassa Province. • To provide capacity-building support to local organizations working to prevent HIV/AIDS as well as to support people infected with HIV and suffering from AIDS to enhance local responses to the epidemic. • To positively impact the development of an effective infrastructure for HIV/AIDS prevention and care in the Niassa Province by building and participating in regional coalitions, and coordinating activities with and influencing the policies of government health agencies. • To facilitate a development process that is community-initiated and community-controlled, that promotes equitable social, gender, and economic relationships, and that is also small-scale, low-cost, and easily replicated.

  6. Stories from the Field This has been a good period. The Facilitators are really taking initiative and getting things done on their own: they gave a great seminar to road workers for a large international organization. On May 16, 2004, an International Candlelight Vigil was organized. This candlelight vigil was peaceful for just a few seconds. Candles here mean light at home —they are very functional [since there is no electricity]. Therefore, free distribution of candles turned into mass chaos!” ~ Rebecca Vander Meulen, MPH (2004)

  7. “The 15 seminar participants were chosen from among the hundreds of workers who are paving the road from Lichinga to Majune. During the course of the week it was amazing to witness the transformation of Monday’s road workers (happy to spend a week learning in a classroom for eight hours a day instead of working on the road for ten and a half hours each day) into Friday’s passionate HIV activists. Marc said on Friday that ‘he now lived in a whole new world,’ a world with HIV. Before, he said, his world only had rumors of HIV. Papaya said on Friday that a week ago he had lived in deep darkness in respect to HIV. Now he understood things. His life would be very different. I’m sure it will be challenging for them to return to an environment where most people know as little as they did on Monday. The week was quite sobering: based on the high incidence level of HIV in Mozambique, and based on their high-risk behaviors, Marc, Papaya, Farel, and Roberto may themselves have HIV. And now they, too, know that. If I were them, I’m not sure I would currently have the emotional strength to come to Lichinga and get an HIV test. Especially since anti-retroviral drugs are currently unavailable for people who are HIV positive. But 15 people now know an awful lot more about HIV, and perhaps, little by little, this knowledge will give power.” ~ Rebecca Vander Meulen, MPH (2003)

  8. Contact Information Concern America2015 N. BroadwayP.O. Box 1790Santa Ana, CA 927021-800-CONCERN714-953-8575 E-mail: concamerinc@earthlink.net

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