Commemorating World AIDS Day 2012
PATH is joining partners around the world to mark World AIDS Day with a renewed commitment to work toward an HIV-free generation. For PATH, this means zero new infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths.
We are working across a range of sustainable, community-driven, evidence-based programs toward a world where no children are born with the virus, where no one is denied or afraid to access the care they need because of their HIV-positive status, and where anyone who does acquire HIV can access care and treatment, regardless of where they live.
Meeting the challenge of HIV/AIDS
By capitalizing on the gains of the past several decades, we can turn the tide against HIV/AIDS for good. From civil society to government to the private sector, this is a shared responsibility that will take multifaceted and innovative solutions.
At PATH, we focus on:
- Developing innovative health technologies and helping communities use them.
- Designing and supporting advocacy, communication, and social mobilization activities that address local contexts.
- Helping local partners and systems build their research and service delivery capacity.
- Integrating HIV and tuberculosis with other health and development issues, especially gender.
Zero new infections
PATH is a global leader in developing and introducing health technologies that address users’ needs and make sense in different contexts. From developing cutting-edge diagnostics for babies to designing safe injection supplies, PATH works toward zero new infections by increasing access to protection options across the lifespan. PATH partners with multilateral organizations, governments, pharmaceutical companies, and communities to develop and introduce new technologies, such as the Woman’s Condom, which gives women double protection from unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
We also know that achieving an HIV-free generation will take effective communications strategies to help influence the norms, conditions, and behaviors that put people—especially youth—at risk of getting the disease. From street theater to mass media campaigns, PATH works with a variety of partners toward this goal.
Through the Partnership for an HIV-Free Generation, PATH has helped reach hundreds of thousands of Kenyan youth with messages on HIV prevention and healthy behaviors through TV shows, video games, teen magazines, work-training programs, and other outreach efforts.
In an uncertain global financial climate, operational research, monitoring, and evaluation are critical to understanding what works in preventing new HIV infections. Through the Arise program, PATH is building the evidence base to help four African countries and India make smart investments and develop better tools to address the disease. Arise focuses on establishing efficient and cost-effective interventions that target most-at-risk populations.
Zero discrimination
Discrimination, gender inequality, and stigma make marginalized groups more vulnerable to getting and dying from HIV. PATH works toward zero discrimination through creative approaches that address the complex biomedical, structural, and behavioral dimensions of the disease.
We’re especially committed to helping countries build their capacity to combat the dual epidemics of HIV and gender-based violence (GBV) among women and girls, and to engaging men in this fight, generating internationally recognized evidence around these issues. Through the Breaking Gender Barriers project, for example, PATH helped reduce GBV and HIV risk among boy and girl scouts in Kenya and male factory workers and vocational students in China.
Addressing multiple health factors at once allows PATH to reach the greatest number of people for the greatest impact. From better sanitation to access to education and family planning, PATH’s approach to achieving zero AIDS-related deaths is holistic and multisectoral. Through the APHIAplus project in Kenya, for example, PATH is helping scores of local partners build their technical and financial capacity to reach more than 10 million people with HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and maternal and child health services.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, PATH leads a project called ProVIC that has reached more than 1 million people with integrated health and other services. We also work in Tanzania, Ukraine, and other countries to link services for both HIV and tuberculosis, the leading killer of people living with HIV/AIDS.