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Evidence for HIV Prevention in Southern Africa (EHPSA)

The Evidence for HIV Prevention in Southern Africa (EHPSA) programme (2014–2018) is a catalytic intervention, contributing to national, regional and global processes on HIV prevention through generating evidence of what works and why, and developing strategies to inform policy making processes. The programme specifically targets HIV prevention efforts for some of the most vulnerable populations – adolescents, prisoners and men who have sex with men, across selected countries in eastern and southern Africa. EHPSA has a significant focus on Evidence into Action (EiA) and promotes early, responsible and continuous stakeholder engagement along the research continuum. EHPSA has implemented a bouquet of modalities to strengthen EiA outcomes, including technical fora and symposia, stakeholder engagement plans and fellowships. EHPSA’s EiA work is delivered under the technical lead of Josee Koch. Fellowships are designed to promote learning between policymakers and academics. EHPSA’s approach is aimed at formalizing a system of policy buddies, linking academia to policymakers and fostering long-term relationships. To ensure sustainability, the EHPSA Fellowship Scheme is built around the core elements of reciprocity and cost sharing. The Swazi fellowship was initiated in light of a World Bank impact assessment on the population-wide benefits of conditional cash transfers to adolescent girls for HIV prevention. The team at the National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS (NERHCA) and Professor Whiteside expressed an interest in participating in the EHPSA fellowship to supplement the impact assessment with a strategic piece of research on the economic cost of school dropout. The National HIV and AIDS Conference: “From AIDS Crisis to Opportunities: What the world can learn from Swaziland” (12–14 July 2016) was a direct spin-off from the EHPSA Fellowship. The objective of the conference was to build networking and dissemination opportunities for Government, community, and leading Swazi and international researchers. Over 70 abstracts were submitted and 30 oral presentations made. This Special Issue of the African Journal of AIDS Research (AJAR) found its genesis in the EHPSA fellowship. EHPSA has supported the process which included a comprehensive mentorship programme with Tim Quinlan and Rebecca Fielding-Miller. This was to provide additional support to the authors over and above that provided through a Gates Foundation Grant to AJAR and Wilfrid Laurier University. NERCHA supplied the guest editors for this special issue. Furthermore, aligned to its own EiA approach, EHPSA has made it possible for this AJAR Special Issue to be published as open source.