Women and HIV/AIDS Initiative (WHAI)
ACT is a member of the provincial Women and HIV/AIDS Initiative, the goals of which are to reduce HIV transmission among women, enhance local community capacity to address HIV and AIDS and build safe environments to support women and their HIV and AIDS-related needs.
Provincial strategies to address HIV: Women and HIV/AIDS Initiative (WHAI)
To address the ongoing burden of HIV among diverse groups of women, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has developed Priority Population Networks to address HIV, funding community-based groups to work within those groups. ACT is a member of the Women and HIV/AIDS Initiative (WHAI).
What is the role of WHAI?
WHAI is a community-based response to HIV and AIDS among cis and trans women in Ontario that takes into account the structural and societal factors that increase women’s risk factors for HIV. This initiative, located in 16 AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) throughout the province.
The goals of WHAI are to:
- reduce HIV transmission among women.
- enhance local community capacity to address HIV and AIDS.
- build safe environments to support women and their HIV and AIDS-related needs.
WHAI’s objective is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support women living with and/or affected by HIV and AIDS.
WHAI achieves its goals and objective through:
- raising awareness and informing local community organizations and groups that work with women about HIV and AIDS and the need for women’s HIV-related services.
- working with local community organizations and groups to promote the integration of HIV and AIDS into their current programs, services, and policies/procedures.
- working with staff at community organizations to build their knowledge and capacity to respond to women’s HIV and AIDS-related needs.
To find out more about the work of WHAI visit www.whai.ca