Prevention

The main objective of this program component is to provide normative guidance and technical support to countries for the acceleration of health sector HIV prevention towards universal access, and in line with Resolutions AFR/RC55/R6 "Acceleration of HIV prevention efforts in the African region" and AFR/RC59/R7 "Call for intensification of HIV prevention and HIV-TB co-infection control in the African region".

The HIV prevention component has the following areas of thrust:

Scaling up of HIV Testing and counseling

Development of normative tools including guidelines and training materials and to support countries scale up HIV Testing and Counseling, as entry point to HIV prevention, treatment and care. In this context, the focus is on supporting countries implement the "Provider-initiated Testing and Counseling" approach to promote behavior change and facilitate timely initiation of preventive and curative services.

Scaling up biomedical interventions for HIV prevention

Development of normative tools and provision of support to countries for scaling up of effective health sector based HIV prevention interventions which include safe sex counseling, the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, prevention and control of Sexually Transmitted Infections; correct and consistent use of condoms, post exposure prophylaxis, infection prevention and control measures, and male circumcision for HIV prevention.

Establishment of Partnerships to promote multisectoral HIV prevention

The focus is on establishing strategic partnerships with other UN agencies and other non governmental organizations to promote multisectoral HIV prevention to address issues of sexual transmission of HIV and mobilization of the leadership and the media.

Cross cutting areas which include documentation of best practices, development of operational research to inform HIV prevention programming and resource mobilization for HIV prevention.

Achievements:

• Intensive advocacy for acceleration of HIV prevention, strong partnerships and accelerated technical assistance to countries has led to successful scale up of health sector HIV prevention interventions that include HIV testing and counseling, the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and male circumcision for HIV prevention.
• HIV prevention is increasingly becoming a priority for member states and development partners, leading to increased resource mobilization and allocation for HIV prevention interventions.