ActionUNICEF has substantial experience on advocacy and communication for behaviour change, and this has been used to strengthen efforts on HIV and AIDS. UNICEF Bangladesh play a crucial role in high level advocacy and contributes to the national response through UNAIDS. Prevention of HIV infection among young people and of parent-to-child transmission are the core of UNICEF's global response. In Bangladesh, UNICEF supports life skills-based education activities through national NGOs, targeting out-of-school children, children attending non-formal education and rural adolescent girls. A feasibility study to launch activities to prevent parent-to-child transmission of HIV has been carried out. Based on the results of this study, it is now planned to implement pilot interventions in selected sites by the end of 2004. HIV and AIDS Prevention Programme (HAPP) In October 2003, UNICEF Bangladesh signed an agreement with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to implement some components of the World Bank and DFID-funded HIV/AIDS Prevention Project (HAPP). The components of this agreement include: 1. Procurement and management of NGO services 2. Provision of small grants 3. The development and implementation of a comprehensive advocacy and communication component (ACC) On behalf of UNICEF, Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Communication Programs undertook a series of consultations with key stakeholders to develop an interim HIV and AIDS communication strategy for HAPP.
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