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HIV/AIDS Ambassadors' Fund

Although highly diverse in terms of language, population size, culture, politics, and economics, West African countries share common public health challenges: high fertility and mortality rates and rapidly increasing HIV/AIDS prevalence rates that are exacerbated by conflict and poverty. Moreover, many of the problems know no borders. Governments in the region continue to respond with varying degrees of success to these challenges primarily through their national health programs. Recent efforts to forge an economic and political union through ECOWAS, have led regional experts to note the need for a coordinated regional health initiative to complement national programs and to share experiences across the region.

The AWARE program helps create and strengthen a regional consultative framework within which key policies and practices are refined and shared.At the same time the capacity of regional institutions will be developed to complement national programsthat will remain the main avenue for addressing most health problems.

AWARE builds on the successes of USAID’s earlier Family Health and AIDS Program that operated principally in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, and Togo from 1995 to 2003. AWARE will support the 15 ECOWAS member countries and Cameroon, Chad, and Mauritania.

AWARE was launched in October 2003 and efforts are currently devoted to refining activity design in close collaboration with partners in advance of full program implementation. Concrete results are anticipated in the second year of implementation.

The five-year AWARE program seeks to achieve its goal through four key results:

• Improved approaches to family planning, reproductive health, STI/HIV/AIDS & child survival services disseminated across the region;
• Increased regional stakeholder advocacy for policy change;
• Increased capacity of regional institutions & networks ;
• Health sector reform models developed & disseminated region-wide.

The principal activities are mutually re inforcing. They include:

AWARE will help build improved program design, implementation, and monitoring skills in regional health institutions that will then translate into indigenous technical assistance to support improved services, training, data collection, analysis, and surveillance.

AWARE supports the efforts of ECOWAS and its health wing, the West African Health Organization (WAHO) to obtain lower prices through bulk purchasing and to increase the reliability of supply through improved management systems.

AWARE will build regional consensus on priority issues and strategies and then build the capacity of regional institutions to craft and implement advocacy plans. A special focus will be placed on mobilizing the efforts of communities, governments, and the private sector to play their part in a comprehensive and scaled-up approach to tackling HIV/AIDS.

AWARE will seek innovative ways to increase access to basic health services in the region. Accordingly, private sector participation will be encouraged through the availability of models of workplace health service provision. Additionally the capacity of community-owned mutual health organizations will be increased. The ability to develop and interpret National Health Accounts will also be strengthened. Finally, the management capacity of organizations such as Country Coordinating Mechanisms and National AIDS Committees will be increased.

AWARE will continue to provide small grants to organizations tackling HIV/AIDS in the 12 countries of the region that do not have USAID missions. For further information, click here.

The AWARE Program is implemented in close collaboration and partnership with institutions, networks, and organizations with regional mandates. The West Africa Health Organization (WAHO – http://www.wahooas.org), a wing of ECOWAS, and the Center for Population Studies (CERPOD – http://www.cerpod.cilss.org), a unit within the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) are key partners.

AWARE’s HIV/AIDS component is implemented by Family Health International (FHI – http://www.fhi.org) and its Reproductive Health and Child Survival component by EngenderHealth (http://www.engender.com).