Since its inception in May 2004, the Community Empowerment in the Fight against HIV/AIDS Project has been using ATOMM as the blueprint for an integrated HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) program. The project is being funded by the Foundation for International Development/Relief (FIDR), a Japanese NGO.

JOICFP's counterpart, the Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia (PPAZ) has been working closely with two District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) in Lufwanyama and Masaiti. Together, they submitted a proposal through JOICFP, which FIDR accepted for 2004 - 2007.

From 4th to 12th December, Nobuhiro Kadoi, Senior Program Officer, JOICFP, visited Zambia to discuss the ATOMM project plan for 2005, visit project sites, and exchange information with stakeholders.

Planning for the activities in 2005 with Masaiti
and Lufwanyama DHMTs and PPAZ

PPAZ and the DHMTs are training community-based distributors (CBDs) and peer educators in the fight against HIV, integrating this with existing RH mechanisms, and thereby strengthening behavior change communication and advocacy activities at the grassroots.

By promoting the ATOMM concept, the two DHMTs are able to coordinate with other activities and so increase the effectiveness of interventions.

The two DHMTs and PPAZ drafted their own training curriculum to train the CBDs and peer educators, and will carry out 'training of trainers' as well this year. In addition to this, 126 schoolteachers have already been oriented to the project.

A chart depicting the ATOMM concept
used during orientation sessions for the schoolteachers

PPAZ staff explaining the ATOMM concept
to the schoolteachers in one of the project sites

Psychosocial counseling training has already been delivered to ten government rural health center staff, and additional training is planned along with orientation of district development committee members in 2005. Sensitizing community leaders to support activities is also critical in providing motivation and support for CBDs and peer educators.

In Mishikishi Rural Health Center, the value of counseling has been verified. Voluntary counseling and testing services started in 2002 in Mishikishi and since one counselor trained under the project came back from training in August 2004, there has been a marked increase in the numbers of people coming for testing.

A nurse trained to be a psychosocial counselor
for HIV/AIDS under the ATOMM project