AMICAALL - Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa

The Southern Africa region continues to be severely affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Namibia is one of the most affected countries in the world, with an estimated 13.5% of the adult population, ages 15 to 49, living with HIV. Approximately 200,000 cases of HIV infection have been diagnosed and reported in Namibia. The life expectancy is currently at 62 years. Namibia also has one of the highest proportions of orphans in the world with an estimated 66,000 children orphaned due to AIDS.

 The Alliance has developed a strategy: Alliance of Mayors' Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level (AMICAALL), reflecting the importance of locally led, multisectoral action which complements supportive national policies.The AMICAALL strategy is inclusive (involving a broad range of stakeholders); responsive (reacting to locally articulated needs and brokering dialogue among local people, municipalities, policy-makers and decision-makers); gender sensitive (responding to the different experiences of men and women in terms of vulnerability, response and impact); and dynamic(local action informs national policy which in turn supports a more enabling environment for sustained responses; strengthened management and financial systems at the local level provide the foundations for scaling up responses to the epidemic).