Country Technical Services Teams are specialized UNFPA regional
teams that provide technical advisory services in all areas of population,
development and reproductive health. These multidisciplinary teams have HIV/AIDS
advisers who work to integrate HIV prevention within UNFPAsupported activities.
The teams also include advisers in reproductive and sexual health, gender,
advocacy and other technical disciplines. Members of the CSTs participate in
UNAIDS technical working groups, inter-agency task teams, meetings and conferences
as part of a commitment to achieve more effective cooperation with UNAIDS co-sponsors
and other partners.
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The CST Addis Ababa covers East, Central and West Africa.
Conflict is contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS in a number of countries.
In Eritrea, 200,000 demobilized soldiers were the focus of accelerated
care and prevention programmes. In 2002, advisers provided tech-nical assistance
to the African Youth Alliance, pursued funding for the youth education
project ERASE AIDS, and assisted in heightened efforts to integrate HIV
prevention within country programmes. Baseline HIV/AIDS studies in 26 districts
of Tanzania were discussed in a May 2002 workshop, cooperation with religious
groups continued in Kenya, and HIV prevention efforts were increased in
Burundi for internally displaced and repatriated populations.
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Capacity-building was a major theme in 2002 for the CST Harare, which
covers Southern Africa. Training addressed how to integrate HIV prevention
and reproductive health into sectoral plans and country programmes, how
to carry out behaviour change and communication activities, how to manage
condom distribution logistics, how to provide services for youth, how to
accomplish gender mainstreaming and create national policy, and how to
conduct sociocultural research. Access to information on HIV/AIDS was enhanced
through the development of advocacy guidelines and a BCC strategy, and
the integration of AIDS modules into Demographic and Health Surveys.
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Advisers from CST Dakar, which covers West and Central
Africa, contributed to meetings and workshops in 2002 including several
regional and subregional consultations of UNAIDS co-sponsors, a meeting
of education ministers of the Economic Community of West African States,
and a workshop on the development of a regional programme on HIV/AIDS Advocacy
and Media Networks. The CST also reviewed the HIV/AIDS components of numerous
country programmes and implemented a training programme for health managers
on reproductive health and HIV prevention.
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Advisers from the CST Bangkok, which covers East and
South-east Asia, continued to provide technical assistance to integrate
HIV prevention. For example, the CST formulated an HIV prevention project
for Myanmar covering advocacy, education, condom programming and voluntary
counselling and testing services, in particular for pregnant women. A project
for sex workers in Indonesia was modified with the application of the 100
Per Cent Condom Use Programme strategy, thereby increasing national-level
advocacy and the use of peer educators.
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The CST Kathmandu, which covers South and West Asia,
raised awareness of the need for fast action to contain HIV/AIDS in populous
countries where infection rates are low but actual numbers of affected
people are high. The CST reviewed country programmes and projects addressing
young people, commercial sex workers, condom distribution, life skills
and other topics. The team produced papers on such topics as young people,
the female condom, and the involvement of religious leaders in an HIV prevention
project in Bangladesh.
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The CST Mexico City, which covers Latin America and
the Caribbean, finalized case studies on UNFPA’s cooperation with
the armed forces in Ecuador, Nicaragua and Paraguay on HIV prevention,
gender equality, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. These and
other experiences will be shared regionally in 2003. The CST also participated
in consultations to develop a regional strategy on HIV/AIDS. Technical
assistance strengthened sexuality education in school and out-of-school
settings, reinforcing HIV prevention among young people.
