Country level

APLF support is used to catalyse , initiate, and maintain work to engage different leaders in the HIV and AIDS response in the following countries:

Bangladesh
Although Bangladesh continues to report low HIV prevalence, the government recognizes that factors related to risk behaviours for the rapid spread of HIV exist in the country. In June 2005, the government endorsed the United Nations (UN) Development Assistance Framework with HIV and AIDS as one of its six priorities. Within this framework, leadership advocacy on HIV and AIDS has been included as a key component of the UN Integrated Support Plan for 2005- 2006, which is aligned with priorities set in the country’s national plan. APLF in Bangladesh is guided by a multi party Parliamentary Forum on HIV/AIDS and Human Trafficking. APLF Bangladesh aims to sensitize national political leadership to understand the importance of urgent action in addressing HIV and AIDS issues in the country. In addition, APLF in recent months has started to engage leaders of multi-faith communities and media executives to take urgent action in the response to the epidemic.

Cambodia
Despite strong political leadership and tremendous efforts in reversing the spread of the virus, Cambodia remains the most affected country in Southeast Asia. The largest number of new infections are now within stable relationships, with married women now accounting for over 40% of all new HIV infections in the country (compared with 10% of all new infections six years ago) while a further third of all new infections are to the children of these women. Therefore, addressing the vulnerability of married women is an emerging priority, and leadership development has been integrated into a project on capacity development for mainstreaming gender and HIV, within the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. A new women’s ‘chapter’ of the Cambodian Network of People Living with HIV has also been established recently. APLF supported work in Cambodia will also be focussing on engaging the private sector, on strengthening the National AIDS Authority and on aligning the legal framework and justice system with the needs of AIDS programming.

China
China has, with the support of APLF, been able to further draw the attention of leaders to the necessity of their active engagement in order to mount an effective and sustainable response to AIDS.  APLF is supporting training workshops on policies for an effective AIDS response for current and future leaders through the Central Party School system. This training has already been conducted in Henan, Hebei, Yunnan, Anhui, Gansu provinces and Xinjiang autonomous region. Within China, one province – Guangdong – has been adopted as an APLF priority. For the Guangdong Party School project, a detailed workplan has been developed to strengthen the curriculum with content on gender and HIV/AIDS. APLF support has also made possible the publication ‘Act Now’, which features among others the Chinese Vice Minister of Health, Mr. Wang Longde. The document has been published in both English and Chinese; been launched at both the national and provincial level; and, been widely disseminated as a tool to advocate greater leadership in the fight against AIDS.   For more information on leadership and advocacy for HIV and AIDS in China, see http://www.unchina.org/unaids/index.html

India
Though the national HIV prevalence in India is relatively low, a generalized epidemic (>1%) is reported in a number of states, and a concentrated epidemic among vulnerable populations. Recognising this urgent need, the government of Indiahas included HIV/AIDS in its Common Minimum Programme. The Prime Minister of India has also demonstrated strong commitment by chairing the “National AIDS Committee”. Guided by a very strong Multi Party Parliamentary Forum on HIVAIDS, APLF India builds on this high level commitment to reach political and civil society leaders in two states. It has recently brought together some 30 senior media leaders with keynote address by the Information and Broadcasting Minister.

Indonesia
APLF is supporting the work of surveying and documenting efforts to mobilize leadership on HIV and AIDS within various sectors.  Two such country-level efforts are the Indonesian media leaders movement, sparked off by Indonesian participation in the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI), and the positive women’s movement which was boosted by the Women and AIDS activities of the Asia-Pacific Network of People Living with HIV (APN+).  By September 2005, over 50 media leaders from print, radio and TV organisations had signed up to increased corporate commitment on HIV and AIDS, and further concrete actions are being planned. Leadership training for positive women has led to the establishment of an Indonesian Positive Women’s Network to increase the visibility of women’s needs within the HIV/AIDS response and advocate for them. Further support will be provided as the fledgling network turns its attention to developing a plan of activities for 2006, including attracting new members and also new supporters from ‘mainstream’ women’s organizations across this vast archipelago.  The help of Indonesia’s top creative writers was enlisted at the Ubud Writer’s Festival in Bali in October 2005, where positive women shared their experiences and opinions which will be portrayed creatively in features and stories in 2006. Writing training for positive women will also help them to raise awareness and understanding of their courage, needs and priorities. Translation and adaptation of APLF publications “Act Now” and “Portraits of Commitment” will ensure local relevance and impact from these advocacy materials. With APLF support, “Simple Passions” has also been published, is a collection of poems and reflections by Suzana Murni, founder of and moving spirit behind the network of people living with HIV in Indonesia

Nepal
HIV and AIDS is major health and development concern in Nepal. It reports more than 5% HIV and AIDS prevalence among vulnerable populations, including among injecting drug users, female sex workers and labour migrants. Cognizant of these factors, the government of Nepal approved its 2005 – 2006 National AIDS Plan in September 2005, identifying leadership as one of its four priorities. The APLF Programme in Nepal launch followed in September 2005 and is geared to support this national priority. Given the conflict and political instability, APLF Nepal aims to strengthen AIDS leadership action and capacities at both central as well as district and community levels.

Pacific islands
(Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands, Wallis and Futuna Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu)
Under Construction

Papua New Guinea
With an HIV prevalence rate of around 2.5% of the adult population, Papua New Guinea faces perhaps the greatest HIV/AIDS challenges in the region. In recognition of this, the National AIDS Commission has recently been relocated to the Prime Minister’s Office and a Minister for HIV/AIDS appointed, while resources are being slowly increased. APLF has supported the development of this new sense of urgency and reinforced the emerging leadership, beginning with the organisation of a Shared Learning workshop in October 2003. The hosting of the APLF’s Steering Committee in February 2005 was an important milestone, as Steering Committee members were paired up to visit with different government Ministers to advocate for a scaled up response and offer peer support. Also at this time, Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director was honoured to be invited to Launch IGAT Hope, PNG’s first network of people living with HIV, with Members of Parliament and the media in attendance. APLF will be supporting the development of an advocacy agenda for PNG in the run-up to its first national conference, tentatively scheduled for March 2006.

Pakistan
Pakistan reports low prevalence on HIV. However, documented vulnerabilities for the rapid spread of HIV exist and may rapidly transform the country’s situation into a generalized epidemic. The country has set up a strong base for advocacy with political leaders through active participation in the “Sub Regional Parliamentary Seminar on HIV/AIDS in South Asia” organized by Parliamentarians For Global Action (PGA) in January 2005. Following this, a Multi Party Parliamentarians’ Forum on HIV/AIDS has been very active in guiding leadership advocacy at the federal as well as provincial levels, with financial support from OPEC Fund.

Philippines
APLF provides technical support for the OPEC funded leadership work in the Philippines. The goal is to mobilize and empower private, public and civil society partnerships towards an expanded national response to HIV and AIDS. Two synergistic strategies have been identified: 1) Leadership mapping of key individuals who can catalyse change across four key sectors (politics, media, faith and business) and identification of opportunities for their involvement, and 2) strengthening of the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) as a forum for partnership. The new leaders / advocates are expected to mobilise wider support for greater attention and more vigorous action to prevent risky behaviour and for an effective response to the many challenges of HIV and AIDS, especially in their areas of influence. Women are a special concern and cut across all sectors, and so a target that at least 30% of the new leaders engaged should be women has been set. One outcome of working with Catholic leaders was the 2005 World AIDS Day message from Cardinal Julio Rosales, Archbishop of Manila, published in a leading daily newspaper and in the Archdiocesan website. This was the first time in the Philippines that such a supportive public message on AIDS was issued.

Sri Lanka
APLF in Sri Lanka is being closely guided and supported by the APLF Advisory Group, which includes high-level advocates of various profiles, who bring with them expertise, commitment and access to informal or formal networks to mobilize leadership on HIV and AIDS. Still reporting low HIV prevalence, the country nevertheless recognized the challenge of breaking the silence around AIDS and address issues related to stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV. On 22 June 2005, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga broke the silence on AIDS for the first time with her pledge of commitment to address issues of stigma, discrimination and access to treatment in a high level meeting attended by senior cabinet ministers, provincial and local political leaders, the military, religious leaders and the media. For more recent developments, see Advocacy event in Sri Lanka;
APLF champion in Sri Lanka

Thailand
The UN Theme Group in Thailand facilitates the implementation of several critical initiatives to empower and mobilize key Thai leaders to reenergize the national response to HIV and AIDS. One initiative involves capacity development of the national and provincial offices of the Thai Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (TNP+) to enable their members to become more effective advocates and representatives of PLHIV concerns. A second initiative focuses on services for HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment in juvenile detention and correctional settings. A third initiative supports advocacy for the promotion of compulsory life-skills and sexual education for youth in all Thai public schools. Fourthly, a training manual is being developed for labour leaders to support their advocacy for implementation of the Thai National Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS in the Workplace. All these initiatives are supported by the OPEC Fund and carried out in collaboration with government, UN and civil society partners.

Viet Nam
Viet Nam was one of the first countries in the region to engage strongly
with the APLF. Outcomes of this early work in 2003-2004 are now becoming clear. The first step was to re-name APLF activities in Viet Nam as the “Viet Nam Leadership Forum” (VLF) to emphasize local ownership and engagement in the initiative. Based on a deep understanding of the political structure of Viet Nam, a strategy was developed to strengthen the engagement of the Communist Party, the National Assembly and key Ministries in addition to the Ministry of Health in HIV. The work undertaken by the Party, National Assembly and government Ministries, supported by UNAIDS, is widely recognized as a major component in changing the climate on HIV in Viet Nam. It has helped to create the opportunities for the Party and government structures to take a more open, progressive and dynamic approach to HIV in Viet Nam. In late 2004, the Prime Minister told the UN Country Team that the UN approach to HIV has shown the government how to handle sensitive issues in Viet Nam, and expressed strong appreciation for this work. The VLF initiative was well timed, and strategically focused to help move on the advocacy and leadership response to HIV in Viet Nam. And building on this, the focus for the 2nd phase of HIV will be on emerging civil society, gender, and the media.

For more information on leadership and advocacy for HIV and AIDS in Viet Nam, see http://www.unaids.org.vn/about/cosponsor/aplf.htm