International cooperation in the fight against AIDS: the role of NGOs.
Int Conf AIDS 1994 Aug 7-12; 10:6 (abstract no. TS9) O'Malley J; International HIV/AIDS Alliance, London, UK.
It is widely accepted that the majority of HIV/AIDS prevention and care activities around the world are organised and delivered outside of government, by individuals and by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Despite this role of NGOs in service delivery, the institutions of international cooperation have been primarily dominated by governments and inter-governmental organisations, and have thus tended to serve the needs of governments rather than the voluntary sector. In response, there has been an increasing amount of international cooperation among NGOs involved in AIDS, through both direct contact between organisations and networks such as GNP+, ICASO, and the established development NGO networks. Like governmental cooperation, these NGO exchanges involve both financial resources and information, but NGOs have been more successful than other institutions at exchanging and adapting programme experience, prevention and care tools, and political strategy. Unfortunately, AIDS NGOs have been less successful than human rights or environmental groups at building broad public constituencies in support of increased resource mobilisation. NGOs also cooperate through (and in cooperation with) bilateral and multilateral governmental efforts, with a particular emphasis on ensuring public participation in policy development, and on encouraging the investment of public funds in the voluntary sector. An important innovation in this area is the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, which encourages governmental and other donors to co-mingle NGO support funds, and to allow NGO communities to determine their own programming priorities.
Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, International Cooperation, HIV Infections, Organizations, Consumer Participation, Human, ICA10 940807
TS9
