Workshopping

On a serious note, I am doing some work here and one of my biggest tasks at the moment is to help develop a Strategic Plan for my organisation (DATF) to show what it wants to achieve over the next five years. Possibly in the UK this might be led by only a few individuals, however, in Mazabuka we have to involve our numerous HIV and AIDS stakeholders, particularly as they will have a much greater influence on the district through their national and overseas funding compared to what my organisation can do. So we held the first of hopefully a series of workshops to kick start this process, which I am pleased or relieved to say went well. Aside from not achieving half of the things that I wanted us to do in the two days, and very few participants arriving on time, everyone was very positive about the discussion and ideas coming out.

Without going into too much detail, much of our time was spent talking about the six main drivers of HIV and AIDS in Zambia and how they relate to Mazabuka. In summary, the drivers are:

1. Multiple and concurrent partners (MCP) – evidence shows that the bulk of new HIV infections are coming from casual and concurrent multiple sexual relationships

2. Low and inconsistent condom use – the use of condoms has not risen enough to impact significantly on HIV transmission

3. Low rates of male circumcision – studies show that male circumcision can offer at least 60% protection against HIV infection. However, male circumcision is not widely practiced in Zambia

4. Mobility and labour migration – there is evidence that this factor can destabilise regular, long-term partnerships and lead to multiple and concurrent partners, and relationships with sex workers

5. Vulnerable and marginalised groups – such groups including sex workers, men who have sex with men, prisoners, OVCs, migrants, people with disabilities are more at risk of HIV infection

6. Mother to child HIV transmission – 10% of all HIV infections occur in children under 14 years and most of these infections are as a result of a mother transmitting HIV to her child