Regional Activities: Middle East and North Africa

Disseminating Lessons Learned in Egypt

JULY 2007 — USAID has been funding a regional effort to disseminate lessons learned from Egypt's pioneering HIV/AIDS program to countries with similar cultural practices and low rates of HIV/AIDS prevalence. To this end, regional workshops in Cairo have identified best practices and adapted them to meet each country's needs, and experts have been visiting selected countries to provide further technical assistance.

In March 2007, FHI/Egypt Regional Coordinator Doaa Oraby and Dr. Sherine Shawky facilitated workshops in Libya and the Sultanate of Oman. The four-day workshop in Oman built capacity for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) programs, while the three-day workshop in Libya built capacity for biological and behavioral surveillance surveys (Bio-BSS).

M&E Workshop in Oman
Oraby arrived in Oman armed with the action plan developed by the country team at the regional workshop on M&E. The goal of the visit was to improve the capacity of Oman's National AIDS Program (NAP) to develop and implement high-quality and sustainable M&E systems for a comprehensive response to HIV/AIDS.

The formal opening of the M&E workshop attracted the attendance of the undersecretary of Oman's Ministry of Health. During the workshop sessions, discussions, and exercises, 28 participants from the NAP, military hospitals, universities, and the private sector absorbed M&E methods, tools, uses, and plans, and they benefited from a special focus on how to monitor and assess clinical care and voluntary counseling and testing programs. Workshop participants were also briefed on and received the newly issued Arabic version of FHI's publication, Monitoring HIV/AIDS Programs: A Facilitator's Training Guide.

Bio-BSS Workshop in Libya
The workshop facilitated by Shawky and Oraby in Tripoli sought to enhance Libya's capacity to integrate the Bio-BSS into its HIV/AIDS prevention and control programs and help participants write the proposal for the first-round survey. Twenty-four participants—from Libya's National AIDS Program and other stakeholders from different governorates—learned about different kinds of sampling, how to reach hidden and hard-to-reach populations, the development of indicators and questionnaires, and ethical issues in Bio-BSS, and other specialized topics. Participants were also briefed on the soon-to-be-issued Arabic version of the FHI publication on Bio-BSS.

PHOTOS: (Top) The 28 participants at the M&E workshop held in March 2007 in Muscat, Oman, were from the National AIDS Program, the private sector, military hospitals, and universities. (Center) At this workshop, participants sometimes broke into small groups to discuss the monitoring and assessment of clinical care and voluntary counseling and testing programs. (Bottom) Participants at the three-day Bio-BSS workshop in Tripoli, Libya, wrote a proposal for a first-round survey. (Top and bottom photos by FHI/Egypt. Center photo by Doaa Oraby, FHI/Egypt.)

Related Case Studies

Religious Leaders Respond to HIV/AIDS: Clergy in Egypt is engaged in effort to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS (2008)

Setting Frameworks for Tackling HIV: National AIDS program staff in Oman learn how to create a monitoring and evaluation plan (2008)

Strengthening the Region to Fight HIV: Staff of a national AIDS program in Libya learn about how to implement a surveillance survey (2008)