NOVEMBER 2005 — The Kenyan National AIDS Control Council (NACC), in conjunction with the National AIDS and STI Control Program (NASCOP) and Family Health International, played host to the first official delegation of HIV/AIDS managers from the People's Republic of China in November 2005.

The China AIDS Road Map Technical Support (CHARTS) Project, funded by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) and implemented by FHI, sponsored the week-long visit to Kenya. The 10-person delegation learned about the strategic management and coordination of Kenya's national HIV/AIDS program, which could serve as a strategic management model for the Chinese government's new policy initiatives. China's new initiatives are expected to streamline the roles of the more than 30 government departments that currently implement AIDS activities in China, to build a multi-sector response and to integrate projects in seven target provinces into a coherent program. In Kenya, the delegation was primarily concerned with the multi-sectoral approach of the government, the incorporation of the civil society in the program and community coordination.

NACC, NASCOP, the Kenya AIDS NGO Consortium (KANCO) and the Kenya Consortium to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (KECOFATUMA) made comprehensive presentations to the delegation. The formal presentations were supplemented by field observation visits that illustrated how the national program is coordinated and implemented on the ground. The Constituency AIDS Control Committees (CACCs) presented field-level demonstrations on how community programs are coordinated and how FHI supported such efforts through its USAID-funded IMPACT Project. The delegates also visited prevention projects in Nairobi and Rift Valley Province.