Christian Aid prioritises a holistic approach to working on HIV prevention, care and support.
Twenty five years into the epidemic, HIV is still one of the leading global causes of death.
Its consequences are felt in every country in the world, but predominately in the poorest: 90% of new infections happen in poor countries, 11,000 people are infected every day, and 7,500 more die each day as a result.
The HIV pandemic is a huge human tragedy and continues to have a vast negative effect on many countries, hampering the economic development of some of the world’s poorest countries and leaving millions of children without parents.
Moving on from ABC to SAVE
Christian Aid supports the SAVE approach - which was developed by our African partner organisation ANERELA+ - as a way of working more effectively to prevent HIV infection.
The SAVE approach provides a more holistic way of preventing HIV by incorporating the principles of the ABC (Abstinence, Be faithful and Condom use) as well as providing information about HIV transmission and prevention, providing support and care for those already infected and actively challenging the denial, stigma and discrimination so commonly associated with HIV.
SAVE stands for:
Safer practices to prevent all forms of HIV transmission. These include ways to prevent sexual transmission encompassing the ABC approach - Abstinence, Being faithful and using Condoms - as well as safe blood for blood transfusions, sterile needles and syringes for injections and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
Access to medical treatment for people living with HIV – this means not only antiretroviral therapy, but also treatment for other HIV-associated infections such as tuberculosis, plus adequate nutrition and clean water.
Voluntary HIV testing and counselling. If you know you are positive, you can protect yourself and others, and take steps to live a healthy, productive, positive life. By the same token, someone who has been tested and found to be HIV negative can make long-term informed decisions to help him/her stay negative. This is particularly important for discordant couples - where one is positive and one negative.
Empowerment through education. Denial, stigma and discrimination associated with HIV remain pernicious and ubiquitous. This is why empowerment through education is a vital component of all work on HIV. People need accurate information about HIV to make informed decisions and protect themselves, their partners and children from HIV. Education also challenges the stigma and discrimination that can make the lives of people with HIV so difficult.
Complex challenge
Although Christian Aid acknowledges that the ABC approach is the cornerstone of preventing sexual transmission, it is often not enough in this complex challenge. Rev Joyce Ngoma was abstinent until she married and has never had sex with anyone other than her husband; yet she and her young son are now both living with HIV. Her husband died last year – too fearful of the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV to seek testing and treatment that would have saved his life and could have prevented his wife and child from being infected too.
Many married women across the world acquire HIV from their husbands, and in India 90% of HIV-positive women are infected by their husbands. Being abstinent until marriage and faithful in marriage unfortunately is not enough to prevent many women from acquiring HIV.
People are always quick to judge people with HIV – blaming them for their infection. This perpetuates stigma, making people reluctant to seek testing and this in turn ensures that transmission continues.
In every country there are many people who have HIV who are unaware that they are infected. Even in rich countries such as Ireland and the UK people with HIV often do not seek testing until they are severely "immunocompromised" late on in their infection - this is because they fear stigma and discrimination. The result is a continuing risk of infection to their sexual partners and means that the treatment that is available to them may not be as effective.
This is why Christian Aid, which works with more than 250 partner organisations to provide HIV prevention, care and support in 40 of the poorest countries in the world, has adopted SAVE. Our programmes focus on some of the most vulnerable communities, and we aim to offer high-quality community-based prevention, care and support while promoting the voices of people with HIV as key partners in our programmes.