Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative

Funded Projects for 2009-10: Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative Community Initiatives Fund

Project Summaries – Community Initiatives Fund

1. Lessons Learned: Building on Public Health Interventions with Populations Affected by HIV (Canadian AIDS Society) $268,300

The CAS project is currently underway. Under this project, CAS will undertake an analysis of trends, and lessons learnt from the deployment of vaccines and other public health measures in target populations. Community groups will be engaged through a best-practices symposium, and key informant interviews. The analysis will identify best practices for vaccine deployment in target populations and community resources that meet these needs, including methods for communicating with target communities, and tools such as fact sheets and guides based on the practices identified through the project. CAS has been championing the need for vaccines for six years by providing supports within the community-based AIDS movement to develop awareness and knowledge on this issue.

The project focuses on populations within Canada, as well as internationally. Research into best practices and findings around deployment of vaccines will serve to identify key thematic areas which will then be presented for discussion at a Best Practices Symposium, where participants will engage in a dialogue about the significance of the identified lessons and what they mean in a cultural context.

Results from this project will represent a synthesis of findings relevant to these communities. A background paper of findings and best practices will be developed. Through funding available in this proposal, the preliminary findings from this analysis will be presented and the research paper will be made available as part of a satellite presentation at AIDS 2010. The satellite session will be co-hosted by the Canadian AIDS Society, the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development, and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. Following the presentation at AIDS 2010, tool kits will be produced and sent to members of CAS and will be shared with the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange distribution centre.

2. Building Community Engagement in Vaccines Efforts in Canada and Africa (Interagency Coalition on AIDS & Development) $290,000

ICAD will partner with the Southern African AIDS Trust in South Africa, and the New HIV and Microbicides Advocacy Society, in Nigeria, to share of knowledge and expertise between Canadian and international collaborators; to build capacity within the three organizations; and facilitate broad dissemination of project materials.

The project will include a review of existing resources on HIV vaccines and other new prevention technologies. This information will form the basis for assembling a toolkit and a training package on HIV vaccines and prevention research, and for designing location-specific training workshops for community leaders and the media in Canada, Nigeria, and Southern Africa. The toolkit and training package will be pilot-tested in the three countries and upon finalizing of the products, training will be delivered to community representatives, the media and journalists in the three countries. The three partners will disseminate the toolkit to their membership, networks, and the Canadian AIDS Treatments Information Exchange. ICAD will submit an abstract of the project to the International AIDS Conference in 2010.

3. New Prevention Technologies (NPT) & Vaccines Satellite Session at the CAS Skills Building Symposium in Montreal, March 2010 (Canadian AIDS Society) $93,220

The objectives of the proposal are:

• To build capacity of front-line workers and community-based organizations through a satellite presentation on vaccines and other prevention technologies. The amendment includes a scholarship component,
• To encourage individuals working primarily in HIV/AIDS to participate in the CAS Skills Building Symposium and NPT and vaccines satellite session by providing a scholarship to facilitate their attendance.

In order to promote global understanding, two participants from low and middle income
countries will be supported to attend the conference, and the satellite session. They will also be invited to Ottawa to participate in site visits with host organizations namely, CAS and ICAD, and to give a presentation to officials at the Public Health Agency of Canada. The satellite session will:

• Increase knowledge within the HIV/AIDS community;
• Provide a channel for key operators to inform and update their communities about progress made in the HIV vaccine and other prevention technologies;
• Help build a stronger HIV/AIDS community network for ongoing engagement; and
• Provide an opportunity for knowledge-sharing on new prevention technologies and vaccines.

4. Biomedical approaches to HIV prevention (Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange) Funding Provided: $61,920

The objectives of the project are to:

• Increase knowledge and understanding among frontline workers and policy-makers about
  emerging biomedical approaches to HIV prevention;
• Increase the capacity and readiness of front line organizations and policy makers to
  effectively participate in the research, development and implementation of new biomedical
  approaches to HIV;
• Increase the capacity of researchers, frontline workers and policy makers to share and build knowledge for the integration of new biomedical prevention technologies into a national HIV prevention response, which includes current successful social and behavioural approaches; and
• Provide an opportunity for frontline workers and policy makers to learn from the experiences of local, regional, national and international agencies already exploring the use of new prevention technologies.

5. New Prevention Technologies Workshop Series (Interagency Coalition on AIDS & Development) Funding Provided: $33,154

The objectives of the program are to:

• Provide training to a wide variety of community groups that address both domestic and international concerns and challenges regarding NPTs;
• Diversify and increase the number of Canadians in prevention networks who access NPT information; and
• Raise awareness amongst students about NPT-related research opportunities in basic science, clinical or social science perspectives.