HIV/AIDS has emerged as one of the foremost challenges for poverty alleviation and development. While sub-Saharan Africa is home to nearly 30 million of the world’s 42 million people living with HIV/AIDS, it is not only an African epidemic. The Caribbean region has the second highest prevalence and Eastern and Central Europe are showing the fastest increase.

Absolute numbers per country are now largest in S. Asia and growing in E. Asia. At the same time, urbanization has been occurring at an unprecedented rate, with more than half of the world’s population expected to be living in urban areas by 2008. Urbanization, when well-managed, can present an opportunity for development, facilitating sustainable economic growth and promoting broad social welfare gains.

Unfortunately, however, cities and towns are often the driving force behind the spread of disease as well as economic and social growth. This is due to high population density, the presence of transportation hubs and the existence of large groups of vulnerable persons (e.g. sex workers, unemployed youth, migrant labor, drug users).

While affecting countless individual lives and livelihoods, HIV/AIDS also has the potential to undermine local governance in all its aspects. Through its profound impact on health and human resources, HIV/AIDS can undermine the capacity of local governments to carry out their core functions of local service delivery (particularly to the poor) and local economic development.

Many countries are now making progress in developing and implementing National AIDS Programs. In most cases, however, local governments have not received sufficient support in dealing with the epidemic, even though they are closest to affected communities and their own capacity to deliver services is undermined by HIV/AIDS. In supporting local government responses to HIV/AIDS, this Handbook is intended as an input to strengthen local, sustainable and accountable responses to HIV/AIDS so as to ensure that local governments can continue to address the key issues of poverty alleviation and local economic development.

Local governments cannot continue with ‘business as usual’ in the face of the AIDS epidemic. They need to be proactive and preemptive in order to avoid disruption of their core activities now or in the future. Local governments are much needed partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We hope that Local Government Responses to HIV/AIDS: A Handbook will inspire and assist local governments to take action.

Debrework Zewdie
Director
Global HIV/AIDS Program
The World Bank
& John Flora
Director
Transport and Urban Development
The World Bank

Download Local Government Responses to HIV/AIDS: A Handbook

PDF format, 2.8MB, 142Pages. Provided by World Bank.

A Handbook to support local government authorities in addressing HIV/AIDS at the municipal level

THE WORLD BANK GROUP
Local Government and HIV/AIDS Initiative
Urban Development Unit
The World Bank
1818 H Street, NW
MSN: F4P-400
Washington DC, 20433 USA
Internet: http://www.worldbank.org/urban/hivaids/

Why was this Handbook developed and for whom?

HIV/AIDS is a global epidemic, but the greatest opportunity for addressing it rests at the local level. This realization has encouraged a shift towards supporting local responses to HIV/AIDS, largely by supporting responses at the community level, carried out by partners in civil society.

Yet HIV/AIDS is also increasingly being viewed as a governance issue. While decentralization is at the forefront of many governance discussions, there has been less focus on the impact of HIV/AIDS on local governments and the role local government authorities (LGA) can play in the fight against HIV/AIDS. As the organ of government that is closest to communities, LGAs can add significant efforts to the global fight against HIV/AIDS. Nowhere is this more urgent than in the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Local Government Responses to HIV/AIDS: A Handbook has been written for LGA mayors, councilors, advisors and officials that are interested in developing or strengthening local responses to HIV/AIDS. It provides information, examples, and illustrative tools (surveys, checklists, modules, etc.) that guide users through the steps of recognizing and publicly acknowledging the importance of addressing HIV/AIDS, assessing the impact of HIV/AIDS on the locality, and identifying key stakeholders to initiate and coordinate a Local Government (LG) HIV/AIDS Response Strategy.

The Handbook also focuses on the implementation process, and suggests ways to mobilize new and existing resources, develop productive relationships with civil society organizations3 (CSOs), and establish systems of monitoring, learning and evaluation. While it is not appropriate to expect all LGAs roll out extensive HIV/AIDS programs, in general they can play an important role in identifying local needs, mainstreaming HIV/AIDS activities within LGA departments, and coordinating local responses (i.e. facilitating partnerships).

Much of the content of the Handbook is targeted towards LGAs in medium to large sized towns and cities. However, the document can also be used by other levels of government (e.g., state or province) and in smaller towns. In all cases but particularly in smaller towns, it is recommended that a facilitator be appointed to work with LGA to adapt and implement the Handbook in a manner appropriate to the local context. This facilitator could directly support one or more LGAs in working through the steps and tools set out in the Handbook.

While this Handbook is targeted at LGAs and does not deal directly with many intergovernmental issues, it should be stated clearly that national leaders, policies and frameworks play critical roles in enabling LG HIV/AIDS Responses.

Any local responses should ideally occur within the context of co-operative governance, wherein national and local governments have a common understanding of their respective roles and actively collaborate with each other. The Handbook could be used to encourage national governments to recognize the value of LG contributions to the fight against HIV/AIDS as well spur national associations of LGAs to support HIV/AIDS activities by their members. There are, however, many actions in the Handbook that are geared to assist LGAs to address HIV/AIDS even in less conducive national contexts.

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment