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| Chahama’s Steering Committee holds its seventh meeting in Cairo |
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Response Upscale Dr. Khadija Moalla; HARPAS Regional Coordinator said that this meeting was held to exchange information, update participants on Chahama’s recent challenges and achievements, discuss levels of advanced steps in terms of achievements on national levels , and ways to upscale HIV response . She also added that “we discussed the role of religious leaders in paving the way to outreach programs for She emphasized that this meeting encompassed the drafting of major outlines necessary to improve Chahama’s leadership, and its legal situation, so it can guarantee the network’s continuous contribution to HIV response and other significant matters, especially that the network is at its seventh year since its emancipation. AIDS ..Statistics and Numbers Dr. Ehab El Kharrat; HARPAS Senior Advisor, went over recent published numbers of HIV prevalence rates in the Arab States, and compared them to other regions around the world. He emphasized that in spite of the fact that HIV prevalence is low in most parts of the world, it’s on the rise in the Arab Region, and the feminization of the disease is increasing as well, which result in increasing numbers of HIV infections among children. Woman and AIDS Dr. Monjia El Suwaihi; Islamic Studies Professor in Zaytona University of Tunisia, touched on the soon- to- be launched training kit draft of “Women rights and AIDS..Rights and Challenges in the Arab States”. She shed the light on main objectives, and guide lines of the draft. The participants demanded that the content of the draft must be appealing and simple. They stressed the need to awareness meetings with community leaders of both genders, and that it must be for all members of society, and not limited to women only. Most Vulnerable Groups They discussed the religious leaders’ role in this context, and the nature of massages they communicate across to reach out to members of these groups to make sure they commit themselves to visit VCT centers, which will contribute to limiting HIV spread. Social Media Ahmed Balah; HARPAS media officer, went over number of new media concepts such as people media, citizen journalism, and social media. He also explained the impact of such phenomena on human rights, in which average citizen and his issues become the center of media focus. He also provided on-hands training for the participants on best ways to go about using social networks such as Facebook and twitter. The training aimed at developing Chahama members’ skills of using new technologies’ tools in a way that help them in activating their engagement in various societal issues. AIDS in Broader Context Breakthrough Initiatives Members of Chahama steering committee spoke about most significant breakthrough initiatives in responding to HIV on national level. They also discussed the challenges they met, assuring that more commitment is needed to engage in HIV activities in their respective countries. At the end of the meeting, Dr. El Kharrat received participants’ feedback on broad guidelines of future activities, and what Religious Leaders are capable of doing in terms of having such plans metalized on the ground. Also read: Activating National Response in Chahama Meeting
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Cairo – April 15th 2010: Members of Chahama’s Steering Committee discussed the strategic plan of the network for 2010 and 2011, the most significant achievements of the network, and the challenges it faced in the past two years. They also addressed future challenges and ways to overcome it. This meeting took place in Cairo (April 10th-12th 2010).
vulnerable groups, and confronting those elements that contribute to women increasing vulnurabilty to HIV in the Arab States”.
He pointed out that stigma, discrimination, poor use of VCT services, infrequent access to treatment, rarity of vulnerable groups outreach programs, and the rising numbers of HIV infected women are considered to be the main challenges that hinder HIV response in the region.
Religious Leaders tackled Chahama’s contributions and efforts within HARPAS strategic programs in reaching out to vulnerable groups.
Dr. Sayed El Zenari; Chahama steering committee member, addressed the possibility of incorporating HIV response into other developmental issues, so it would become an entry point to approach marginalized groups. He added that utilizing Chahama members’ leadership accumulative experiences and skills to building the capacity of the civil society activists and organizations is now possible.