YouthAIDS
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PSI in Togo

In 1996, PSI/Togo began operations to market and distribute Orasel rehydration salts and Protector Plus male condoms with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) regional Family Health and AIDS Prevention Project. Mass media and interpersonal communication campaigns encourage abstinence, fidelity, HIV testing and correct and consistent condom use among populations most at risk for HIV.


Donors

Major donors include the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the British Department for International Development (DfID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States Department of Defense (DoD), and the United States Ambassador’s Fund.


Partners

Local partners include the Togo Ministries of Health, Defense, Education, Security, Child Protection and Tourism; CNLS (National HIV/AIDS Committee); PNLS (National HIV/AIDS Program); PNLP (National Malaria Program); DSF (National Family Health Division); the Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism; the United States Peace Corps; the DED (German Development Service); UNICEF; the World Health Organization; the Rotary Club; Peace Without Borders; Plan/Togo; CARE; the USAID Regional AWARE Project partners; and the local NGO community.


Malaria

PSI collaborates with Plan Togo, the Ministry of Health, local NGOs, and the private sector to ensure reliable access to Serena long-lasting insecticide treated nets. Serena was the fi rst long-lasting mosquito net introduced to Togo and remains the best known and most widely available on the market. In the absence of donor funding, PSI uses sales revenues to sustain net distribution to the general population, while partner organizations employ targeted subsidies and selective free distribution to make nets accessible to the highest priority groups—pregnant women, children under fi ve and families in high prevalence areas. These technologically advanced mosquito nets are impregnated with an insecticide which is safe to humans and will last for up to fi ve years without retreatment. PSI and partners distributed over 32,000 nets in 2006.


Reproductive Health

Confiance brand oral contraceptives and Depo-Provera injectable contraceptives are sold or distributed to women through public sector clinics, private medical practices and pharmacies. These products prevent pregnancy- related deaths and allow families to better space the births of their children. While limited donor support restricts PSI/Togo from fully addressing the country’s tremendous reproductive health needs, PSI uses its own resources to distribute products and communicate the importance of family planning through mass media. PSI’s interpersonal communication agents also incorporate family planning messages into regular HIV prevention activities.


HIV

PSI/Togo employs targeted interpersonal communication activities as well as mass media campaigns and special events to promote the ABCs of HIV prevention (Abstinence, Be Faithful and Condoms), encourage testing and discourage harmful cultural norms such as cross-generational sex. Evidencebased interventions are targeted at a range of high priority groups including truckers, military, commercial sex workers, rural populations, students, men who have sex with men, workers and religious groups. HIV-prevention products include Protector Plus and Rebel male condoms, Protectiv’ female condoms and Gel Intime personal lubricant. PSI/Togo also manages a network of nationally-distributed voluntary counseling and testing centers and collaborates with local care and treatment organizations to arrange referrals. In 2002, Operation Haute Protection, became PSI’s fi rst military HIV prevention program in the West Africa Region—employing a comprehensive approach of peer education, mass media campaigns, condom distribution and voluntary counseling and testing centers located on military bases. Since its inception, Operation Haute Protection has successfully increased condom use and decreased the frequency of HIV infections among Togo’s armed forces.

 

 


Health Impact
In 2007, PSI/Togo estimates that it averted over 22,000 unwanted pregnancies and more than 50,000 cases of malaria.
 
ITNs

PSI/Togo promotes subsidized long-lasting mosquito nets to prevent malaria.

 

PSI/Togo promotes the oral rehydration salt Orasel to protect children suffering from dehydration caused by diarrheal disease.

Publications

• Fact Sheet: PSI/Togo (1.4 MB)

PDF 429K
AIDSMark Regional Lessons Learned: West and Central Africa

PDF 256K
A New Kind of War: PSI Arms African Militaries Against AIDS



Contact Info



UNAIDS summary of work with uniformed services
 
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