World Bank pushes efforts to reduce AIDS stigma

The World Bank, the United Nations and private sector partners recently launched a competitive development marketplace aimed at identifying and funding innovative approaches to reduce stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and AIDS in India and other South Asian countries.

The initiative, called 'Tackling HIV and AIDS Stigma and Discrimination: From Insights to Action,' targets communities across India and the rest of the subcontinent seeking proposals for local, small-scale projects with the potential to be scaled up and replicated. The winners will be selected by an international jury of World Bank and independent HIV and AIDS experts at the Development Marketplace event on May 15, 2008 in Mumbai.

Praful Patel, Uganda-born World Bank Vice President for South Asia, said, "Stigma and discrimination seriously undermines efforts to fight HIV and AIDS. It also marginalises people at risk and living with the disease contributing further to their social isolation and rejection."

He said that "this competition offers a unique opportunity to channel small grants directly to community organisations and NGOs to implement imaginative approaches that will help change the attitudes and practices that undermine effective programs."

The Bank said that anectodal evidence and research have demonstrated the rampant extent to which the role of stigma in hampering prevention, treatment and the care of HIV and AIDS in South Asia, and said that for example, a study in India had found that 34 percent of students, faculty, and technical staff of the public health services would not associate with people living with HIV and AIDS.

The South Asia Regional Development Marketplace project being implemented by the Bank and appendages of the UN like UNAIDS,UNICEF, UNDP,etc, and with the private sector, is open to all – civil society groups, social entrepreneurs, youth organisations, private foundations, and academia – with unique ideas that may not attract funding from traditional sources of finance.

According to the Bank, the maximum award will be $40,000 per proposals, and proposals will be accepted until January 31,2008, with non-English proposals having to be submitted by January 21 to allow time for translation.

Proposals for the project – which is a World Bank program that uses competitive and transparent process to support grassroots initiatives with innovative approaches to solving challenging development issues, and which has awarded nearly $34 million to approximately 800 small-scale projects over the last seven years -- can be submitted online through the Web site.