After fighting the spread of HIV and AIDS for nearly 30 years, the AIDS pandemic seems to be stagnating globally. Prevention programmes have shown positive results, such as delayed sexual debut, fewer partners and more widespread use of condoms.
However, HIV and AIDS still affect many people, and we must continue our efforts. In 2009, 33.3 million people were living with HIV, of these, slightly more than 50% were women and 2.5 million were children. Women and children, especially orphans, are among the most vulnerable groups. Although the number of people receiving treatment for HIV has increased considerably in the last five years, access to treatment and medicines remain a major challenge.
Our global HIV and AIDS programme 2011-2015
Norwegian Church Aid has been involved in work on HIV and AIDS for more than 20 years and has developed substantial competence and established cooperative relationships with partners world wide.
Our goal is to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV and AIDS, as well as the quality of life of their families.
Our work
- Giving legal, social and economic assistance to people living with HIV and AIDS, with a particular focus on women
- Giving psychosocial, physical and spiritual support to children orphaned by AIDS or living with HIV
- Providing life skills training for young people living with HIV to contribute to their having a healthy and positive lifestyle
- Mobilising civil society to make authorities accountable, and asserting people’s right to treatment and care
- Working for solid, effective and accountable public health care
Where we work
The following countries are included in the ‘Social mitigation of HIV & AIDS’ programme: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, Angola, Zambia, Sudan, Laos, Thailand and Russia.
Young people, women and children
Norwegian Church Aid focuses especially on the right of young people to a healthy and good life. We do this by, among other things, offering young people training in managing life with HIV and AIDS.
Children whose parents are living with HIV and AIDS, or who have been orphaned by the illness, are especially vulnerable and we offer them support through initiatives in local communities. Some children need financial support in order to get the education they have a right to, while others receive extra food or psychosocial and spiritual support. In many programmes, youth clubs play an important role in our work.
Stigmatisation and discrimination continue to be major problems in most communities, and there is still important work to be done in this area. Norwegian Church Aid’s focus will be on providing legal and social support to women through our programmes.
Access to medicines
Thanks to new medicines, HIV has gone from being a deadly disease to an illness it is possible to live with. This is, however, dependent on whether people can afford the medicines and whether they have access to necessary treatment and support, none of which is guaranteed for the world’s poorest people.
Norwegian Church Aid will therefore also develop programmes that make medicines and treatment more accessible for poor people who are affected by HIV.
Global cooperation
Norwegian Church Aid supports and works in partnership with many global organisations: the World Council of Churches, through the programme Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA); the Lutheran World Federation, through their AIDS campaign, ‘For the sake of Life’; and the World YMCA.