Latin American and Caribbean Horizontal Technical Cooperation Group

Partnership and coordination for an effective HIV/AIDS response in Latin America and the Caribbean have bolstered universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support

The Group, nationally managed and led, is an important tool to enable countries to increase their ownership of the response to HIV/AIDS and to set the agenda at the regional level. It has contributed through its 11 years of existence to setting regional priorities and ensuring the sharing of best practices. The fact that several of the activities of the Group are either virtual or take place in relation to other regional meetings contributes to the sustainability of the initiative. However, donor support has been and continues to be important for its functioning. UNAIDS, for example, has provided the online WebEx platform for use by the Group to hold its meetings and has also provided funds for meetings and for the hiring of a communications adviser. In addition to sharing experiences, the virtual training carried out in accordance with the South-South cooperation strategy has contributed to strengthening human resource capacities in various countries.

Other training – held with the support of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and WHO – focused on the latest scientific evidence and helped to improve the evidence-based management of HIV programmes. Moreover, the joint project on antiretroviral price information has helped countries to manage antiretroviral drug purchases by sharing the approach of other countries in the region, which has contributed to a more sustainable and efficient AIDS response. In parallel to the South-to-South cooperation strategy, the Group in the last two years has collaborated with UNAIDS, WHO and others to play a key role in helping countries during two regional

forums to agree on regional targets for HIV treatment, prevention and zero discrimination. The collective work to reach those targets now contributes to the sustainability of the response by ensuring the buy-in of the main implementers at the national level.

The Horizontal Technical Cooperation Group comprises the heads of national AIDS programmes and representatives of regional HIV/AIDS networks. UNAIDS and WHO financially support the organization of the Group’s meetings as well as those of the 13 countries committed to the South-South collaboration strategy. They also support the virtual meetings by allowing the project to use their online platforms (WebEx and Illuminate). UNAIDS provides financial support for the communication focal points. The mix of virtual and on- site meetings facilitates the replication and adaptation of the project at the local level. It is also possible to adapt the model to other thematic areas as long as partners have the will at the national level to build a regional network.