HAI’s OVC-plus project took aim at two social determinants of HIV infection in Côte d’Ivoire: poverty and gender-based violence.

Economic and social vulnerabilities are both by-products and facilitators of HIV-infection. In Côte d’Ivoire, a single HIV-diagnosis has been shown to increase household expenses by 44%, on average. 1 in 3 children in Côte d’Ivoire have experience gender-based violence, which has been extensively linked to both economic dependence and the spread of HIV.

To combat these social determinants of disease, HAI partnered with a coalition of government ministries and programs to enact a two-pronged project supporting orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and their families.  The OVC-plus Project aimed to empower economic independence among vulnerable families affected by HIV while simultaneously establishing a national multi-sector, gender-based violence awareness and prevention network.

At the community level, HAI organized job-skills and apprenticeship trainings for HIV-affected youth while building financial management skills among guardians (of which 92% were women). At the institutional level, HAI provided multiple stakeholder trainings and elaborated and activated a gender-based violence reporting network integrated into health system and social system structures.

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