The Program HIV/AIDS, financed in Romania by The Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, Round 6

• RAA
• >
• HIV / AIDS Projects
• >
• The Program HIV/AIDS, financed in Romania by…

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Romania (www.globalfund.ro) – The Global Fund, is an international financial organization whose activity is based on a strategic partnership between governmental institutions, civil society, private sector and communities affected by the three epidemics of major impact on the general population health.

The funding granted by the Global Fund to applicant countries comes to cover the national deficit of resources for prevention and control programs for the three epidemics. Funding is granted after the country applications, endorsed by the Country Coordinating Mechanisms for the Global Fund programs, are selected and approved.

In July 2006, after Romania’s application was approved for financing by the Global Fund within Round 6, Romanian Angel Appeal Foundation was appointed by the Country Coordinating Mechanism as Principal Recipient for the two grants, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB).

The role of Romanian Angel Appeal is to coordinate the activities included in the Grant Agreements for HIV/AIDS and TB signed with the Global Fund, in order to reach the key indicators and the objectives.

The implementation of the HIV/AIDS Program, within Round 6 is achieved in two distinct phases: Phase I (July 2007 – June 2009) and Phase II (July 2009 – June 2010).

The HIV/AIDS Program “Towards Universal Access to HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment, Care and Social Support for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations” has as main goal to maintain the incidence of HIV/AIDS at the low level of 2005.

This is made possible through effective interventions, orientated towards the vulnerable groups and the young people living with HIV/AIDS (YPLWHA). Through these activities, vulnerable and poor population will gain access to prevention and treatment services and to the adequate combination of services and support for YPLWHA to avoid a second wave of epidemic in Romania.

The program’s objectives are as follows:

• To scale up the prevention interventions for vulnerable groups and to improve services that can reduce their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. These interventions contribute to adjusting and implementing national HIV/AIDS policies and strategies, at central or local level, in the most affected communities;
• To diversify the range of services destined to young people living with HIV/AIDS. The services are to be structured around the modern concept of positive prevention thus including programs for developing skills for life, education, counseling and vocational training, access to work places, family planning, reproductive health and prevention of HIV mother-to-child transmission, prevention of drug use and the associated risks.
• To efficiently and effectively implement the Grant Proposal through technical assistance, coordination of monitoring and evaluation activities, development and implementation of a communication strategy as well as increasing the visibility for the program activities, coordination of lobby and advocacy efforts at national level to ensure sustainability for the activities and continuity after the end of Global Fund’s financing.

To reach the objectives and key-indicators included in the HIV/AIDS Grant Agreement signed with The Global Fund, Romanian Angel Appeal coordinates activities and interventions carried out by 27 sub-recipients, representatives of both civil society and governmental.

Target groups:

• Injecting drug users (IDUs);
• Commercial sex workers (CSWs);
• Men who have sex with men (MSMs);
• Roma people;
• Inmates;
• Street children and young people;
• Young people living with HIV/AIDS;

Activities of the HIV/AIDS program:

• Outreach activities carried out in the vulnerable or affected communities, in order to change the risky behaviors among injecting drug users, commercial sex workers, men who have sex with men, inmates, Roma population, street children and young people etc. The activities and services provided include distribution of condoms, sterile injecting equipment, IEC materials, training of peer-educators, social and psychological counseling, referrals to services for counseling and testing and for medical and social care.
• Voluntary counseling and testing for the vulnerable groups;
• Information, education and communication (IEC) sessions for people in temporary police arrests who belong to vulnerable groups;
• Monitoring of the implementation of standards for harm reduction and substitutive treatment for drug users;
• Lobby and advocacy at national level in view of increasing the quality and area covered by the services provided, improving policies in the field, diversifying services, improving the legislative and medical frame related to HIV/AIDS.
• Support for continuing education and social and professional integration of young people living with HIV/AIDS, including education for life, developing skills for independent living, family planning, vocational training, scholarships etc;
• Training for the service providers in order to ensure multidisciplinary care for young people living with HIV/AIDS;
• Consolidating interventions destined to YPLWHA;

The activities of the program are focused also on regularly monitoring and collecting data concerning vulnerable groups such as drug users, commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men. In this respect, the grant facilitates the monitoring and evaluation capacity building; the information gathered is used to evaluate the impact of the national prevention interventions and services.

Many of the projects and activities carried out in Romania with financial support from the Global Fund through RAA are models of success in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia, through programs addressed to hard-to-reach vulnerable groups initiated by non-governmental organizations.

The real partnership between governmental institutions and civil society plays an important role in ensuring the success of the interventions for HIV/AIDS control.

For more information related to the implementation in Romania of the HIV/AIDS program financed by the Global Fund, Round 6 through Romanian Angel Appeal, please go to www.fondulglobal.ro.