CWS-P/A’s Response to HIV/AIDS in Pakistan

Church World Service-Pakistan/Afghanistan (CWS P/A)is an ecumenical
organization, working in Pakistan and Afghanistan for the evelopment and relief
of marginalized communities since 1954.

Globally the organization is a member of CWS, Inc. and locally it is rooted
through its advisory board and regional networks. It operates through its seven
offices in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

CWS-P/A is operational among a network of over 350 partners. This network is
composed of NGOs, CBOs and religious bodies coming from different ethnic and
religious backgrounds from Pakistan and Afghanistan. It assists communities to
access better health and education, strengthen agricultural initiatives, achieve
community based economic development and recover from emergencies and disasters.
It also supports organizations through financial assistance, information
sharing, networking, research, advocacy, skill and issue based trainings.

Church World Service-Pakistan/Afghanistan has been taking the issue of HIV/AIDS
very seriously and has been involved in two active projects in Pakistan during
2004-2005.

The first project was on Mass Awareness on HIV/AIDS for health practitioners in
the province of Sindh. There are a number of health
professionals whose knowledge on HIV/AIDS is limited to only the term.

They are not aware about the modes of transmission or how it affects the body.
In the otherwise majority of illiterate people, the values and opinions of
health professionals are considered the ultimate source of authentic
information. Therefore, CWS-P/A realized that it was of vital importance in the
awareness of HIV/AIDS that the conceptions of health professionals be made clear
so that they may influence the lives of people in the right direction. An
initial baseline survey was conducted with selected health professionals and a
Knowledge, Attitude and Practices survey was undertaken. Based on the results of
the survey three, (3 day,) workshops were arranged.

The second project was on Community Awareness Program on HIV/AIDS.

It was felt that in order to create greater impact the community should be
directly involved in the awareness of HIV/AIDS. For this purpose during
2004-2005, fifteen workshops were conducted with various communities, semi-urban
& rural, in the provinces of Sindh and Punjab. It is a known fact that in order
to achieve progress of significant impact in awareness raising on HIV/AIDS, both
males and females need to be educated at the same time.

Keeping in mind the cultural sensitivity of Pakistan, CWS-P/A ensured that
separate sessions were held on consecutive days for males and females of the
same community. These community awareness sessions were each for a day and the
community was mainly made aware about the modes of transmission and prevention.

A total of 750 people were educated during these sessions. These sessions were
developed and facilitated by trainers from within CWS-P/A. Ms. Beenish Asif, Ms.
Ayesha Hassan, Mr. Eid Muhammad Shams, and Mr. Syed Moazzam Ali were among the
trainers.

In both the projects being run by CWS-P/A great care has been taken to include
the concepts of gender and how gender and HIV/AIDS are linked.

Although, in numbers, Pakistan has significantly very few cases of HIV/AIDS but
the traditional customs, traditions, values and ways of life all point in the
direction of multiplication of new HIV infections.

Beenish Asif
E-mail: cwsea@...