hivaidsStigma

AIDS Survival Project

AIDS Survival Project (ASP) is committed to providing people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) the most up-to-date information and support they need to lead healthy, productive lives. Founded in Atlanta by a small group of concerned, dedicated people with AIDS, ASP offers vital tools for living to people throughout Georgia.

With funding from AED, ASP's anti-stigma program will include an expansion of their THRIVE! Weekend program. The program's purpose is to reduce HIV/AIDS-related stigma as a barrier to prevention, care, and treatment in two rural areas of Georgia. ASP's anti-stigma program has three main components:

• Trainings;
• Web-based Technical Assistance and a Toolkit for rural communities to build their capacity to implement THRIVE! Weekend in their communities; and
• Public Awareness Campaigns to build support and engender community awareness about HIV/AIDS among the general community about the need for testing and prevention services.

THRIVE! Weekend is a volunteer-based training run by and for those affected by and/or living with HIV/AIDS and provides peer support, empowerment, and resources on a variety of topics, including but not limited to, legal issues, insurance, disclosure, and nutrition. The program's initial outcomes include:

• Empowerment: Participants will identify greater confidence in their ability to adopt or maintain healthy behaviors that allow them to live well with HIV/AIDS. This includes accessing care if they were not previously linked to care and treatment services.

• Knowledge: Participants will report a stronger commitment to working in partnership with their primary health care provider by creating a comprehensive treatment plan together.

• Risk Reduction: Participants will report an increase in their commitment to protecting themselves from activities that put them at high risk for secondary infections and for infecting others.

• Two media outlets (print, radio, or TV) will provide HIV/AIDS awareness coverage before the scheduled THRIVE! Weekend.

Long-term outcomes include:

• At 12 months following their participation in the program, participants will demonstrate their ability to maintain healthy behaviors and remain in treatment;

• Collaborating partners will establish an on-going, regularly scheduled program modeled after THRIVE! Weekend, and to adapt and tailor it to their communities' needs; and

• Media outlets in these communities will increase their coverage of HIV/AIDS-related issues.