The National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) has started a nationwide mapping of HIV-prevention activities to determine whether the current response can cater for all persons.
According to a UNAIDS press release the programme is being conducted at government and non-governmental agencies and institutions which will allow NAPS to coordinate HIV-prevention initiatives. The United Nations AIDS programme supports the initiative.
The mapping will cover all the HIV-prevention programmes being implemented countrywide. It will also cover programmes executed by multilateral agencies, bilateral partners, community-based organisations, the private sector, networks of people living with HIV and faith-based organisations. A database of the prevention actions will be generated to establish its scope, scale and intensity. The process will allow NAPS to evaluate programmes based on evidence and determine how to integrate, streamline and coordinate the programmes by different stakeholders. On completion of the database NAPS will be able to identify duplication and gaps in prevention coverage.
NAPS said armed with this data it will be better able to plan to meet its national targets for universal access to HIV prevention. It said too it expects the data to inform its plans to meet the Millennium Development Goals, the UN General Assembly Special Session Declaration of Commitment and the commitment that was made at the UN high Level, meeting on AIDS in June 2006.
NAPS will also seek to obtain pamphlets, information, education and communication materials; for radio and television that have been produced for HIV prevention programmes in Guyana. Additional opportunities for the scale-up of HIV prevention will arise from lines through workplace programmes, women’s and youth organisations, organisations for people living with HIV and other programmes within and beyond the reach of the health ministry.
The release said a simple but comprehensive questionnaire to undertake the prevention mapping has been emailed to all known partners and stakeholders. It has also been posted on the NAPS website located at http://www.hiv.gov.gy for online submissions. Stakeholders are asked to complete and submit the questionnaire by March 14.
