In every country with available data, trans populations are among the most at risk groups for HIV. Despite this, trans populations are frequently not included in national data-collection efforts or are not recognized by national governments as priority populations in their HIV responses. As a result, meaningful inclusion of trans people in National Strategic Plans (NSPs) is rare and this exclusion continues to contribute to poor HIV-related health outcomes within this population and leads to comparatively low levels of trans-specific funding and programming.
eLearning Course: HIV National Strategic Plan Trans Inclusion
GATE, in collaboration with amfAR, has developed an an online open-access training designed to help trans and gender diverse activists to address their exclusion from HIV National Strategic Plans (NSPs).
Guidelines
In order to address this gap, GATE and amfAR, with funding from EJAF have developed two guides:
Best Practice Guideline for Governments
Click on the links below to download the guides for governments:
Best Practice Guideline for Trans Activists
Click on the links below to download the guides for activists:
These guides seek to address the exclusion gap by increasing the meaningful engagement of trans people in National Strategic Plan development.
Mapping trans inclusion in HIV National Strategic Plans
Additionally, an open-access research paper, co-authored by GATE and amfAR was published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS) to further understand the extent of meaningful inclusion of trans people in national strategic plans (NSPs) for HIV/AIDS.
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Report
Based on a yearlong project, amfAR and Global Action for Trans Equality (GATE) have released a new report, Increasing Trans Inclusion in HIV/AIDS National Strategic Planning: Learnings from Community Advocacy in Five Countries.
Trans people are among the groups most at risk for HIV, but they are frequently excluded from policy and planning documents like National Strategic Plans for HIV/AIDS (NSPs). This project aimed to increase trans inclusion in NSPs by building the capacity of five trans-led community organizations to engage in NSP-focused advocacy and shape trans-specific programming. amfAR and GATE worked with partner organizations in Ukraine (Cohort), Uganda (FEM Alliance Uganda), Thailand (Sisters Foundation), Kenya (Jinsiangu), and one country on the African continent unnamed for safety reasons.
As the timeframe of the project did not allow for changes to trans inclusion in the NSPs to be measured, researchers instead measured factors that would facilitate inclusion during the next NSP development cycle: advocate “readiness” to engage in NSP advocacy and the extent to which advocates were able to build relationships with key government and international stakeholder allies.
While key lessons specific to each country emerged and are detailed in the report, cross-country lessons were also illuminated:
- data collection by and for trans communities is urgently needed
- NSPs must address structural barriers to HIV care for trans populations
- advocacy for trans inclusion in NSPs must be flexible, sustained, and tailored to the context
Videos
For a brief overview of the guidelines, you can watch the video below:
Watch our World AIDS Day 2021 webinar on Trans Inclusion in HIV National Strategic Plans:
Join us in calling for better trans inclusion!
@amfarofficial Why should ##trans people be included in the development of ##HIV National Strategic Plans? ##amfAR ##GATEorg ##CureAIDS
♬ Stories 2 – Danilo Stankovic
With thanks to the Elton John AIDS Foundation for funding this work
