SWAA / AFASI

Society for Women Against Aids in Africa / Association pour les Femmes Africaines contre le Sida.

Represented in Saly Portudal by Soukeyna Diop-Dieng, vice-president SWAA Senegal.
Address: SWAA, CHU Fann, BP 5035, Dakar, Senegal.
Tel: (221) 24 37 22
Fax: (221) 25 36 95
International Coordinator: ClaireMulanga Kabeya, 28 ave Rimbaud d'Orange, Apt 56, 34080 Montpellier, France.
Tel: (33) 4 67 45 25 64
Fax: (33) 4 67 54 78 00
President SWAA Senegal: Prof. Awa Coll-Seck
President SWAA International: Mrs Eka Esu-Williams, Calabar, Nigeria

History:

SWAA is a non-profit making, apolitical, non-religious organisation, created in May 1988 in Harare (Zimbabwe) to protect people, and women in particular, from HIV infection. The association was born when women began to realise that they had specific problems in the face of AIDS, due to their vulnerability and to the ever-increasing number of women with the infection. This specific vulnerability is associated with the socio-economic context, the role and the status of women in Africa.

Aims:

• To develop strategies to help reduce the spread of AIDS among women.
• To create an awareness of AIDS among women, to educate and inform them about the infection and its impact on their lives.
• To set up care facilities for those affected by HIV, especially women and orphans.
• To press the National Committees for the Fight against AIDS, NGOs, women's associations and youth groups to set up programmes to control HIV infection.

Organisations:

The international SWAA has an international office, a general assembly of 27 national Bureaux, including that of Senegal, which was created in 1989 and supports the objectives of the international SWAA, while dealing more specifically with Senegalese matters. SWAA Senegal includes a national office, 10 regional offices, a section called "SWAA young people", whose members are aged between 14 and 25, and five technical committees (finance, training, information, research, counselling). SWAA Senegal has more than 100 members, from all socio-professional categories, all are volunteers and committed to the fight against AIDS. The association publishes SWAA-Infos, an organ of communication between members, which is also open to partners.

Activities:

The activities of SWAA International are based on those of the national organisations. In Senegal:

• Courses on AIDS for SWAA members and collaborating bodies (associations, NGOs, etc.)
• Information, Education, Communication, especially in the context of the FORED training project for women and young people, in collaboration with two other NGOs, the FDEA (Women, Development and Enterprise in Africa) and CRWRC (Christian Reformed World Relief Committee). A KAPC survey has been carried out and more than 800 people have received training in 50 groups of women and young people in the three regional project centres (Dakar, Thiès, Kaolack).
• Research
• Psycho-social care for those directly or indirectly affected by HIV.

Projects:

The association is limited by the fact that its workers are volunteers, with little free time. It is also difficult to maintain close contact between SWAA International and SWAA Senegal. As the national association has no headquarters where its activities can be based, this restricts its role as an organisational focus. Despite this, SWAA Senegal is eager to develop the activities it has begun, in particular coordination with its partners in the various networks.