Islam and HIV/AIDS Project

Dates: October 2000- Present

Themes: Faith-based programming, HIV/AIDS, community mobilization

• Overview
• Partners
• Objectives
• Activities
• Outputs
• Impact
• Unique Features
• Future Plans

Overview

Mauritania is faced with an increasing HIV prevalence rate. With most of the population being Muslim, working with religious leaders to disseminate HIV/AIDS prevention and care and support messages insures reaching a wide audience. SFPS/BCC collaborates with STOPSIDA, a Mauritanian NGO to train Islamic leaders to talk to their constituents about HIV/AIDS using references to Islamic teachings.

Partners

• The US Embassy in Mauritania
• STOPSIDA
• The Mauritania High Islamic Council
• PNLS Mauritania

Objectives

• Educate Islamic religious leaders in IPC/C and BCC regarding HIV/AIDS prevention and care and support of PLWAs.
• Increase the Islamic community's awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Mauritania.
• Limit HIV transmission by promoting preventive behavior.
• Promote care and support to PLWAs.
• Disseminate Islam and HIV/AIDS best practices in the region.

Activities

• Training workshops in HIV/AIDS IPC/C for religious leaders.
• Supervision visits to trained religious leaders to discuss and monitor their action plan.
• Development of a guide "Islam and HIV/AIDS" for Islamic religious leaders with an accompanying audio cassette to help them address their constituents.
• Mass-media and community activities hosted by Islamic religious leaders.
• Validation of the "Islam and HIV/AIDS" guide by the Mauritania High Islamic Council.
  

Outputs

• HIV/AIDS IPC/C training curriculum for Islamic religious leaders (Manuel de Formation en Communication Pour Leaders Religieux Module 2 )
• "Islam and HIV/AIDS" guide (draft).
  

Impact

88 Mosque imams and Corranic school teachers were trained in HIV/AIDS IPC/C techniques.

Unique Features

The target audience for this project (religious leaders) are a challenge to work with because of their conservative sexual viewpoints.

Future Plans

• Validate the "Islam and AIDS" guide by the Mauritania High Islamic Council.
• Share the Mauritania experience in the region through a lessons learned dissemination workshop.

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