Shaun's Assignment
The country that I will talk about for this assignment will be Namibia. It is a country in southern Africa that has a population of 2.1million people. Of this 2.1million people, approximately half live below the poverty line of US$1.25 a day.

Also, as of 2007, 15% of the adult population is infected by HIV/AIDS.
There are many organizations that direct their efforts to reduce HIV/AIDS from spreading through several approaches. In this assignment, I will cover some of the parties that I have found combating HIV/AIDS as well as their approaches.

Top down approach – Government
The government has used several approaches such as conducting bi-annual serological surveys to gather data from pregnant women. These data would then be analyzed and published as a form of revealing the country’s situation in combating HIV/AIDS which help the various organizations that are giving aid in Namibia.
The government also works together with different NGOs and organizations to take care of the children that have been orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS. As of 2007, it is mentioned that at least 78,000 children have benefitted in one way or another through the different collaborations and programs.
Also, they provide treatment to people in rural areas to combat the HIV/AIDS virus. As of end 2007, 52,000 people were receiving anti-retroviral therapy.

Bottom up approach – Other organization
This section could be an endless list of the many organizations. However, I will just highlight an organization that uses a different approach compared to the government.
Women’s Action for Development (WAD) is a Self-help organization that aims to aid the socio-economic and socio-political situation of the Namibian. The approach that it uses is through education. Recently, it has graduated 89 out of 100 of its students with certificates in Computer Literacy, Office Administration and Typing, Hospitality training, Upholstery training, Mat Weaving and Contents of Gender-Related Laws. During the course of the 4-week program, all the students will also be educated in how to use female condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS.

In alignment with our discussions during lessons, I believe both approaches although different, are required. WAD’s approach is that through education, the women would be educated to make informed choices that hopefully will curb HIV/AIDS as well as contribute to the economy through the various technical skills that are taught through their courses. The government takes the direct approach and the aftermath to provide aid. I believe that this is an effective method as WAD targets mainly the rural area women while the government gives a more holistic cover. Although the process will be more efficient if both would collaborate together whereby WAD provide their expertise like course work layouts to the government to empower future teachers.

Thank you for your read =]
Shaun Teh

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