AIDS Public Policy Training Project

Director: Joan Kaufman

The AIDS epidemic is among the most critical global development challenges of the 21 st century. Effective national AIDS responses require the participation and collaboration of a wide range of governmental agencies and non governmental organizations in policy making and implementation. While much global attention has focused on the need for such responses, there remain few efforts to systematically train non-health actors on the rationale for such programs and the specific sector programs and activities required. The AIDS Public Policy Training Project was created in 2003 to serve this purpose.

The goal of the training course is to develop the capacity of government officials, including those outside the health sectors, to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It trains political leaders about the determinants and potential impacts of AIDS and about successful strategies and governance for an effective rights-based and multi-sectoral response, including the contributions of NGOs, civil society and the private sector in responses worldwide. The course presents HIV/AIDS as a development issue requiring government leadership for multi-sectoral responses, introduces international and local best practices in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and impact mitigation, reviews the main debates at the global and national levels about the HIV/AIDS response, and offers practical strategies for improving leadership and inter-sectoral and multi level collaboration and partnerships on HIV/AIDS policies and programs for a comprehensive response of linked prevention, treatment and impact mitigation.

Project Sites: The AIDS Public Policy Training Project has worked in China and Vietnam. The first China training took place in January 2004 and the Vietnam program was launched in January 2006. The China project is a joint initiative between Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and Tsinghua University’s School of Public Policy and Management in Beijing. The Vietnam project is a collaboration between Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, the Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy and the Health Policy Initiative.

AIDS Public Policy Training Program Teaching Model:
The course core curriculum has been developed by a team of Boston based faculty (click here for more information on faculty) from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Medical School’s Division of AIDS, Harvard School of Public Health’s International Health and Human Rights Program, Boston University’s Center for International Health and Development, and Abt Associates of Cambridge. AIDS Public Policy Training Program Session Briefs, developed by program faculty, constitute core training background material summarizing key issues for all modules. For each training program, a set of teaching power points are developed by module teams tailored to the specific priority themes for the audience and locale. Each module is co-taught by international and in-country faculty teams. In-country faculty from China and Vietnam have adapted course content to the national context and provided relevant country examples. The course content is presented via lectures, exercises and teaching cases and includes strategic planning exercises designed to facilitate the development of multi-sectoral AIDS response plans at the local level.

Book Announcement: AIDS and Social Policy in China
Articles featured on KSG News: Kennedy School's AIDS Public Policy Training Project Expands to Vietnam AIDS Public Policy Training Seeks to Stem Epidemic in China and Vietnam

Brochures for APPTP China and APPTP Vietnam

Relevant links

UNGASS
UNAIDS
background readings in Chinese & Vietnamese (forthcoming)