Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa - sub-Saharan Africa

The Alliance has adopted a strategy known as the Alliance of Mayors' Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level (AMICAALL). The initiative, which aims to be inclusive, responsive, and gender-sensitive, is designed to increase the ability of communities to access funds and other support needed to combat HIV/AIDS through partnerships across sectors and among a variety of groups. AMICAALL also strives to create an environment in which communities and individuals can move beyond the denial and stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.

Activities involved in establishing this initiative in a country include launching a National Chapter of the Alliance; developing an AMICAALL National Plan of Action; conducting a workshop and recruiting a national coordinator; establishing AMICAALL municipal teams to build the capacity of elected leaders, municipal staff, community members, and others to undertake anti-HIV/AIDS activities; organising community-based projects, such as HIV testing and counseling services; engaging local and national leaders in dialogue on instituting effective policies; and disseminating the experience from initial pilot sites to all municipalities. Programme activities must fit into existing national frameworks to support and improve on policies and activities that are already in place, while increasing community-level action.

Countries that have launched national chapters of the Alliance include Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Uganda. Several others are preparing to launch chapters. Namibia launched its chapter in December, 2001. Elected mayors and municipal leaders met to sign the declaration, and a public rally highlighted the development and the crisis nature of the epidemic in the country. The Mayor of Walvis Bay, a small port town of 25,000 people (which has an estimated HIV adult prevalence rate of 28%) helped secure funding to establish a multi-purpose centre that provides HIV/AIDS prevention, education, and legal aid services, particularly for young people.

HIV/AIDS.

Programme organisers contend that the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa has been significant, especially in urban areas. An estimated 28.1 million people live with HIV/AIDS; 3.4 million people were infected in 2001; AIDS-related illnesses killed 2.3 million that same year, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). By the end of 1999, an estimated 1.7 million children had lost a mother or both parents to the epidemic. On the basis of data from Uganda and Senegal, organisers feel that leadership at the local and national levels is key in responding to the epidemic.

In 2000, African governments joined the United Nations, donors, and private and community sectors in what is known as the International Partnership against AIDS in Africa (IPAA). In June 2001, countries attending the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS agreed that by 2003 they would "develop multi-sectoral strategies to address the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the individual, family, community and national levels." With national strategies in place, countries face the challenge of moving to the next step.

UN partners are undertaking some exploratory efforts to bring similar activities to several Eastern Europe countries.