A Strategic Approach Towards an AIDS-competent Society (Technical Note no.1) (UNAIDS, 2000, 9 p.): Step 7 Learning from action

A Strategic Approach Towards an AIDS-competent Society (Technical Note no.1) (UNAIDS, 2000, 9 p.)

		(introduction...)
		Step 1 Creating AIDS competence
		Step 2 The development, by consensus, of a national strategy on HIV/AIDS, based on local responses
		Step 3 Appointing a national facilitator for local responses to HIV/AIDS
		Step 4 Establishing a local responses support team at district level
		Step 5 Understanding the epidemic and identifying key social groups
		Step 6 Developing local partnerships
		Step 7 Learning from action
		Step 8 Sector reforms to enhance sectoral AIDS competence
		Step 9 Encouraging the proliferation of AIDS competence

Step 7 Learning from action

The feedback process of learning from direct action will help local partners adjust the criteria for what determines AIDS competence, and the means by which it can be achieved. At the same time, the local response support team should collect the various lessons from around the district and, using these, refine the definition of AIDS competence and the means of attaining it.

As an example, in November 1999, the Provincial Multisectoral AIDS Committee of Gaoua, Burkina Faso, reached a definition of AIDS competence that included the following criteria:

· a change in individual sexual behaviour
· a reduction in the stigmatization of HIV-positive individuals
· a spontaneous willingness to come forward to be tested for HIV
· improvement in the quality of hospital care
· increased mobilization of people against AIDS
· a reduction or stability in HIV prevalence.