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MS-Mozambique AIDS project receives US$ 525.000
Danida (Danish International Development Agency) has granted US$ 525.000 to the MS-Mozambique HIV/AIDS project, “AIDS Activists in the Frontline”. The project will inform about HIV/AIDS and promote a behaviour change in rural areas, where the population normally does not receive information about the disease.
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Participants in a MS-Mozambique HIV/AIDS workshop.
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08. January 2007
The HIV/AIDS epidemic is rapidly increasing in Mozambique. More than 1.4 million persons are infected, and thousands of children have become orphans due to the disease.
In order to change this pattern, it is crucial that people become informed about the dangers of HIV/AIDS and change their behaviour. However, access to information about the disease is very limited in the rural areas of Mozambique.
Consequently MS-Mozambique is launching the HIV/AIDS project, “AIDS Activists in the Frontline. Boosting a Behaviour Change Approach”. The focus of the project is innovative HIV/AIDS activities that will be carried out in 10 rural districts in Northern Mozambique.
One of the seminal elements of the projects is to inform the population in rural areas who are seldom reached by more traditional HIV/AIDS campaigns.
Project will address 74.000 persons
The project will be carried out by 148 activists in order to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the vast rural territories in the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula.
The project will among other things improve the quality of the awareness raising methods. Furthermore, the project will try to increase the quantity and the use of information materials in the local societies.
All in all, the project will address some 74.000 Mozambicans.
“AIDS Activists in the Frontline” will explore and implement new educational and communication methods, in order to spread the message about behaviour change in relation to HIV/AIDS in the best possible manner.
The change in behaviour has both a preventive side related to sexual practices, as well as a more social aspect related to the stigmatising in the local society that HIV/AIDS positive persons often suffer from.
The project will be implemented by eight of MS-Mozambique’s partner organizations, and the target groups include vulnerable parts of society, such as women, disabled persons, people living with HIV/AIDS and orphans.
Fact: HIV/AIDS in Mozambique
UNAIDS states in its Report on the global AIDS epidemic 2006 that the number of persons infected with HIV/AIDS in Mozambique are believed to be between 1.4 and 2.2 millions. UNAIDS estimates in a 2006 Fact Sheet that the adult HIV/AIDS prevalence in Mozambique was 16.1% in 2005.
In their AIDS Epidemic Update December 2006 UNAIDS and WHO state, that the HIV infection rate among pregnant women (15-49 years) has risen from 11% in 2000 to 16% in 2004, which is one of the sharpest increases in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years.
The infection levels in pregnant women are highest in the capital Maputo and the Southern and Central provinces of Maputo, Sofala and Gaza, where the rate is between 18% and 27%.
