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World AIDS Day – Social Service Workers Play Key Role in Policy and Services

Nicole Brown's picture

World AIDS Day logoSocial welfare programs have been a lifeline for people living with HIV, David Chipanta, Senior Advisor Social Protection, UNAIDS, shared during a World Social Work Day webinar hosted by the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance in 2015. He gave examples from around the world: cash transfer programs are contributing to keeping more girls in school in Malawi and South Africa, civil society organizations like the Association de Lutte Contre le Sida in Morocco are working with social workers to ensure that transportation and housing needs are met for people accessing HIV treatment, and social workers in Belarus and Ukraine are linking people who inject drugs to clean needles and syringes and other essential social services. He issued a call for social service workers to join social policy and protection efforts to end the AIDS epidemic by focusing on social justice and the populations left behind, improving the quantity and quality of social service workers and deploying them to the areas of greatest need. He stressed the role of the social service workforce in reaching the “three zeroes:” zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS-related deaths, and zero discrimination.

Celebrated annually on December 1, World AIDS Day highlights the great progress made in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and also calls for continued action to redouble efforts toward elimination. 

Over the past years, the Alliance has shared many blogs, resources and additional materials to champion the important role of the social service workforce in the provision of services for those affected by HIV and also preventive measures. Take a look at some of the existing resources and share with us new resources from your organization so that they can be widely available through this network.  

Webinar

World Social Work Day - Celebrating Success in Social Service Workforce Strengthening
Significant reductions in new HIV infections, AIDS-related deaths and AIDS-related discrimination are possible through a well-planned commitment to prevent and mitigate the social, economic, and mental health impacts of HIV. This is made possible through a social service workforce engaged alongside others to increase access to HIV services, nutritional, legal and economic support to foster the physical, social, and cognitive well-being of people living with and most affected by HIV. In celebration of World Social Work Day in March 2015, the Alliance hosted a webinar with PEPFAR and UNAIDS to share achievements of PEPFAR/USAID in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Presenters, including Chipanta shared the role of social service workers in supporting HIV-affected children and families and contributing to clinical outcomes toward the goal of ending the AIDS epidemic.

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