With an HIV prevalence rate of 12 percent, Zambia receives significant support from USAID under the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). These PEPFAR investments focus on scaling up integrated HIV prevention, care and treatment programs, with the goal of reaching epidemic control by 2020.

The USAID Zambia Community HIV Prevention (Z-CHPP) project is designed to prevent new HIV infections through community-based behavioral interventions, improved condom accessibility and use, and promotion of high-impact services.  Z-CHPP targets discordant couples, people living with HIV, adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), and other high-risk groups.

In addition to its broad-based prevention programming, Z-CHPP also serves as the lead implementing partner for the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS- Free, Mentored, Safe (DREAMS) project. DREAMS is a global initiative under PEPFAR, designed to prevent new HIV infections among AGYW ages 10-24 across ten countries in sub-Saharan Africa. DREAMS delivers a core package of evidence-informed approaches, within and beyond the health sector, to address the structural drivers that impact AGYW’s HIV infection risk, including gender inequality, lack of education, poverty, and sexual violence.

Z-CHPP works across 14 districts, engaging district and community stakeholders, to effectively address the complex variables that drive or prevent the transmission of HIV.  Specific activities include:

• Dissemination of social and behavior change information;
• Provision of prevention education interventions;
• Demand creation for high-impact, biomedical services;
• Targeted HIV testing of highest risk populations; and
• Linkage to HIV care and treatment for those who test positive.

Under DREAMS, Z-CHPP works with five other implementing partners to reduce HIV incidence among AGYW. Project activities take place across eight districts and 40 health facility catchment zones.  Working in urban settings and targeting the most vulnerable AGYW,  DREAMS provides beneficiaries with safe, confidential spaces to access a package of services tailored to their individual needs.

Additionally, DREAMS works with the sexual partners of AGYW, parents, schools, and communities to strengthen the supportive networks necessary for young women to thrive.  The services provided by Z-CHPP and other DREAMS implementing partners include:

• Mentor-led safe spaces;
• Gender-based violence care and support;
• HIV testing and counseling for AGYW and their sexual partners;
• Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP);
• School tuition support;
• Tarenting-skills education; and
• Economic strengthening.

JOURNEY TO SELF-RELIANCE

USAID believes every person, every community, and every country wants to be empowered to lead their own future. We support self-reliance by walking alongside our friends on their development journey, as evolving but enduring partners.  As partners on this journey, we are empowering host-country governments and our partners to achieve locally-sustained results, helping countries mobilize public and private revenues, strengthening local capacities, and accelerating enterprise-driven development.  This approach fosters stable, resilient, and prosperous countries that are more self-reliant, and prioritizes enduring partnerships.