Advocacy for Community Treatment (ACT) Toolkit 2.0

"Community advocacy is crucial to bringing about change. Yet community activists often lack the knowledge and skills needed to raise their voices and communicate their needs in the local and national forums where decisions are made."

From the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), this Advocacy for Community Treatment (ACT) Toolkit 2.0 supports communities to realise their rights to optimal HIV treatment. The aim of the toolkit is to support and train community activists to advocate effectively on access to treatment for people living with HIV (PLHIV), including those from key populations (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people, sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM), and people who use drugs. "In reality, access to HIV treatment - for many different community members in many different contexts - is still limited. This is due to a range of social, political and economic factors."

Topics covered include: the science of HIV; the relationship between human rights and HIV treatment; financing for health; opportunities and barriers to scaling up treatment; practical guidance on how to mobilise communities; updated information on HIV treatment guidelines and treatment monitoring; and new modules on HIV co-morbidities. In addition to revised facts and figures that reflect the most recent evidence, the ACT Toolkit 2.0 also includes new content on the World Health Organization (WHO)'s 2015 treatment guidelines, monitoring HIV treatment with routine viral load testing, and the Fast-Track global initiative to scale-up the HIV response and end the HIV epidemic by 2030. The ACT Toolkit 2.0 also contains new sections on HIV/TB co-infection and Hepatitis C virus.

There are 2 essential modules in the Toolkit to be used in every training session: module 1) the Science of HIV and Treatment, and module 7) Advocacy. The remaining modules can be used as required, based on specific training needs. Each Section in the ACT Toolkit contains:

• Section objective: summarising what community trainers can achieve by using the Section.
• Training materials: providing a list of the resources and materials (such as PowerPoint presentations or flipcharts) needed to guide the participants through the session. A PowerPoint presentation, to support training, is available for each section.
• Training options: providing options for activities to help participants engage with the content of the section depending on the amount of time available for the session. In each section, there is an Option A: Giving a short (60 minutes) and information-based option for training, such as through a PowerPoint presentation and discussion. In some Sections, there is also Option B: Giving a longer (approx. 120 minutes) and more participatory option for training, such as through group work and activities.
• Useful resources: giving links to other useful documents or websites on the subject.
• Key messages: offering key "take-home" messages for the participants that can also be used as part of an advocacy strategy for the issue in question.

"The ACT Toolkit works best if it is part of participatory training. This means training that puts the participants first and enables them to: share their own knowledge, experience and ideas; ask questions and have discussions; build their skills and confidence; and 'learn by doing,' such as through doing activities and analyzing case studies."

ITPC is a worldwide network of community activists unified by a vision of a longer, healthier, more productive life for all PLHIV. ITPC includes 8 regional networks in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. As a grassroots movement based primarily in the Global South, ITPC seeks to be the community's voice on HIV treatment and is driven by and committed to the human rights of those impacted by the HIV epidemic. Through its HIV Treatment Education program, ITPC is committed to providing accurate and timely HIV treatment information that can improve the lives of PLHIV. Many of the tools developed under this programme are also intended to be used for advocacy initiatives.