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Innovaids to Battle AIDS in Six Mekong Countries BANGKOK, Thailand, October 6, 2003 — A bold initiative to protect those most at risk for HIV infection in the Mekong Region of Southeast Asia was announced today by PSI. The three-year initiative, known as Innovaids, will link the resources of social marketing organizations in six Asian countries — Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam — to design and deliver new HIV/AIDS prevention information, products and services to low-income and high-risk populations. The project, funded by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), will be carried out in cooperation with government, non-governmental and private sector organizations. "It is now widely recognized that HIV/AIDS threatens the social and economic development of the Mekong region," said Michael Holscher, Innovaids director. "Innovaids grew out of a shared commitment by the region's social marketing organizations to act now, focus resources on those whose behavior puts them at greatest risk and deliver on-the-ground the practical tools they need to protect themselves." Holscher noted that in 2002 social marketing organizations in the Mekong Region distributed more than 80 million condoms and reached millions of people with creative AIDS prevention and condom promotion activities. Innovaids will build on this existing regional infrastructure to deliver more product and service options such as female condoms, water-based lubrication, voluntary HIV counseling and testing, and treatment kits for sexually-transmitted infections. The project will also use innovative techniques to reach those at risk with the information, skills and other support they need to access and benefit from the preventive options available to them. Of the 42 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, more than 7.2 million live in Asia and the Pacific, according to a December 2002 "AIDS Epidemic Update" from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and World Health Organization (WHO). The Innovaids initiative is managed by PSI's regional affiliate
in Bangkok, Thailand. PSI, a non-profit organization based in Washington,
uses social marketing to improve the health of low-income people in
70 countries through programs in HIV/AIDS prevention, family planning
and maternal and child health.
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