Advocacy and human rights

Panagora South Africa has a Collaboration and Learning Hub that supports the USAID/South Africa Health Office with Expert Technical Services. This includes two activities, Technical Support Services (TSS) and Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL), both of which help USAID meet its HIV and TB programs goals. Panagora is actively looking for creative, dynamic, results-focused and experienced professionals for a number of positions.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS, with Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda accounting for 48% of new infections. A systematic review of the HIV burden among women engaged in sex work (WESW) in 50 low- and middle-income countries found that they had increased odds of HIV infection relative to the general female population. Social structural factors, such as the sex work environment, violence, stigma, cultural issues, and criminalization of sex work are critical in shaping sexually transmitted infection (STI)/HIV risks among WESW and their clients in Uganda. Poverty is the most commonly cited reason for involvement in sex work in SSA. Against this backdrop, this study protocol describes a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that tests the impact of adding economic empowerment to traditional HIV risk reduction (HIVRR) to reduce new incidence of STIs and HIV among WESW in Rakai and the greater Masaka regions in Uganda.

The HIV Prevention Ambassador toolkit includes colorful, 1-page handouts and worksheets in a booklet format that trained HIV Prevention Ambassadors can use to conduct peer support, community discussions, and other activities. The toolkit is designed to accompany the Ambassador Training Package and can be translated into local languages.

The OPTIONS Consortium, in collaboration with Collective Action, has developed an HIV Prevention Ambassador Training Package to support adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) to play a meaningful role in the rollout of oral PrEP in their communities. Through interactive activities, discussion, and action planning, the training prepares Ambassadors to share information with their peers about oral PrEP as part of combination HIV prevention. Ambassadors also gain skills to support peers who are interested in using PrEP and to build community support for AGYW use of oral PrEP. For any Ambassadors who have not been previously trained on sexual and reproductive health and rights, the training also includes foundational sessions on sexual and reproductive health, human rights, gender, violence and HIV transmission.

The Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV programme in Zimbabwe has had remarkable success despite the country's economic challenges. The aim of this study was to explore the challenges faced by breastfeeding mothers on the PMTCT programme.

Our 9th Research Digest assembles 87 abstracts published from May through June 2019 that feature evidence from Botswana (6), Eswatini/Swaziland (2), Malawi (12), Mozambique (4), South Africa (46), Tanzania (4), Zambia (7) and Zimbabwe (17).