The Traffic Jam Project, Nigeria
An organization in Nigeria took advantage of Lagos' traffic congestion to undertake a brief survey on awareness among some of the cities drivers. For more information, including the survey itself, see the Electronic Community web-site at http://www.electroniccommunity.org
Prevention opportunity, Somaliland
International Cooperation for Development, in collaboration with the Somaliland Ministry of Health and Labour, WHO and UNICEF, conducted Somaliland's most comprehensive prevalence survey to date and found prevalence to be at just one percent. (Neigbouring Djibouti has a prevalence of ten percent, for the sake of comparison.) There is an opportunity to stave off the epidemic in the unrecognized Republic of Somaliland (northern Somalia) with efforts at awareness-raising and prevention. The survey found that, "health professionals and traditional birth attendants know about HIV and how it is transmitted, but there are major improvements to be made in working practices . . . ." (from CIIR News, March 2000)
Networking, Ethiopia
Ethiopia is slowly, but surely, waking up to the crisis of HIV/AIDS in the country. Ethiopia has some 350 non-governmental organizations (NGOs); some of these are included in the roughly 115 organizations and institutions--both local and international--which are in some way addressing the disease. Efforts at networking and information-sharing to support these efforts include the MESOB networking initiative of InterAfrica Group, which combines on and off line activities, and Partners Against HIV/AIDS (PAHA), which was largely founded as an on-line program among Ethiopians abroad. PAHA provides information on-line, including a web-based bibliography and resource center. MESOB (in Ethiopia, common meals are shared around a woven table, called a mesob) seeks to promote particularly indigenous organizations' efforts, research and share information on sources of support and collaboration and sharing information on care, treatment, prevention and on innovative activities. MESOB uses a range of communication options (from internet to hand delivery to site visits to fax and post) to move information around.