Acknowledgements

The Islamic Medical Association of Uganda is grateful for the generous support received from all donors, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Learning Inc., the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). IMAU appreciates the willingness of these organizations to fund our innovative projects.

IMAU would like to thank the Uganda AIDS Commission and the Ministry of Health for their efforts in coordinating all AIDS prevention activities in Uganda. Special thanks go to the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council and His Eminence the Mufti for support and encouragement from the outset, and to the District Khadis where IMAU’s AIDS prevention programmes operate. Special mention is made of UNAIDS for supporting the production of this booklet and the companion video The Long Jihad: A Bitter Battle Against AIDS. Noerine Kaleeba, the UNAIDS Community Mobilization Adviser and founder of The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) in Uganda, is thanked for her support during the implementation of the project and production of this booklet.

Dr Elizabeth Marum of USAID and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is given special acknowledgement for eliciting her Government’s support for a religious-based nongovernmental organization (NGO). Her tireless effort has been critical to the project’s success. Special mention is made of Dan Lukenge and Janet Nahamya of World Learning, Inc. for their master training sessions of IMAU trainers, and of Vasta Kibirige with the Ministry of Health’s AIDS Control Programme for her training support.

Documenting project success would not have been possible without expert data collection, and baseline and follow-up surveys conducted by Dr David Serwadda and Dr Fred Wabwire of Makerere University’s Institute of Public Health.

IMAU gives special thanks to their Kampala staff for many hours of dedicated service, matched only by the IMAU trainers’ in the districts and the Imams and Muslim communities’ in the project areas.

Finally, we are grateful to the Family AIDS Workers, Voluntary AIDS Workers, and Madarasa teachers who are doing all they can to ensure that their communities are learning about HIV/AIDS and are encouraging community members to change their behaviour to prevent HIV infection. We salute all those who changed their behaviour as a result of the projects, for without them, all our efforts would have been in vain.