AFEW: Annual Report 2001/2002 >> Advocacy and East-West engagement

Annual Report 2001/2002

Advocacy and East-West engagement

Most NIS countries lack an effective national AIDS policy. A relatively 'invisible' threat, such as HIV/AIDS, which at this stage is primarily affecting marginalized groups in society, will only appear on political agendas after it has already spread to the population at large and AIDS patients begin to overburden the health care system.

At the same time, the engagement of the international NGO community in the NIS has been limited. Although an understanding of and appreciation for the specificity of the context is slowly growing, many international organisations are still wary of becoming or staying involved due to the complexity of the challenges they have encountered. National organisations involved in HIV/AIDS-related efforts are still few and fragile.

The majority of donor countries tend to consider AIDS a 'North-South' problem, and by doing so ignore the human disaster that is taking place on their doorstep. Yet, Western countries do have a role to play in facilitating the exchange of knowledge and skills with the NIS and by supporting an appropriate response.

Active approach

For this reason, AFEW actively approaches government agencies, NGOs, international and national donors and the business community – both in the East and in the West – to promote a better understanding of the problem and to stimulate a committed response.

Advocacy and East-West engagement take place on various levels and are integral parts of AFEW's operations, aiming to convince national counterparts and policy makers of the benefit of adopting successful programmes for nationwide implementation. AFEW has achieved various successes in these areas. A recent Order by the Russian Ministry of Health8 , declaring that HR will be the official strategy to combat HIV infection among IDUs, is the most recent example of the importance of effective advocacy. This new Order is welcomed by AFEW, who along with OSI have demonstrated the effectiveness of successful programming and contributed their voices as advocates for change.

AFEW advocates to…

'Make the HIV/AIDS epidemic a priority, and stimulate prompt and appropriate action utilizing the window of opportunity created by the relatively late start of the epidemic in the NIS countries'.