Twelve Years Later, HIV in Namibia Looks Very Different

July 24, 2018There ' s been enormous progress here, but adolescent girls and young women still face particular risk.Last month, I returned to Namibia for the first time in 12 years.I lived here in 2005-2006 as a technical advisor to a large HIV/AIDS prevention program —a time when the epidemic was raging through Namibian communities. The prevalence rates were mindboggling, 24% in places such as Katima Mulilo. Although treatment was available, the services were not readily available or accessible.It felt like we couldn ’t inform and educate communities quickly enough or train enough health workers to counsel, test, and educate patients to meet the need. Messages were tested and retested to try and reach our target audiences.I remember driving from town to town in the north and seeing graveyards where the small crosses that marked each grave started at the side of the road and disappeared into the distance.The graveyards are still here, but they ’re not expanding at the rate they were 10 years ago.Twelve years later, I ’ve returned to learn about ourUSAID Technical Assistance Project (UTAP), which is strengthening organizational and health worker capacity to deliver HIV services, both in the public sector and in facilities operated by nongovernmental organizations. Namibia has achieved enormous success since I was last here. It is hailed as one of the countries close to reaching epidemic control and there is pressure on government and all implementing partners to delive...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: news