3 by 5 Initiative

Partnership, advocacy, and experience exchange are key communication components of "3 by 5". WHO stresses that many organisations are working together to achieve the goal, including national authorities; United Nations (UN) agencies; multilateral agencies; foundations; non-governmental, faith-based and community organisations; the private sector, labour unions; and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). "To succeed, full support and participation from all partners and governments is needed."

In this collaborative context, WHO has devised a 5-pillar communication strategy:

1. Develop global leadership, alliances, and advocacy - Involves advocacy for funding, training and strengthening country health services (click here for more information on the Integrated Management of Adolescent and Adult Illness (IMAI) health care/training strategy), as well as publishing (with UNAIDS) ethical guidelines promoting equity and human rights in the provision of ART.
2. Provide urgent, sustained country support - Involves mobilisation of emergency response teams for high-burden countries; encouraging national political commitment for 3 by 5; working with national governments to strengthen health systems to respond to the crisis; training professional and lay staff; and strengthening physical resources like laboratories and testing equipment.
3. Simplify standardised tools and assure quality - Involves establishing uniform standards and simplified tools to track ART, identifying multiple entry points for treatment (e.g., TB and reproductive health programmes, non-governmental organisations, or NGOs, faith-based organisations), as well as simplifying treatment regimes and guidelines for ART.
4. Create an effective, reliable supply of medicines and diagnostics - Involves establishing a service to assist countries to secure uninterrupted access to appropriately priced, quality, antiretrovirals (ARVs), and diagnostics - as well as the development and distribution of technical tools and operational support. In addition, information is disseminated on legal and regulatory issues, prices, and sources.
5. Rapidly identify and reapply new knowledge and successes - Involves establishing global communication systems to share progress and experience, developing and carrying out an operational research agenda, and building a situation room to track progress towards 3 by 5 milestones. The latter element involves the establishment of systems at country, regional and global levels to monitor process indicators such as number of countries with emergency plans, people trained, new treatment sites opened, and size of financing gaps.

The 3 by 5 website is one tool for sharing information about the initiative and the background issues; it also serves to connect collaborators and to spur advocacy efforts. For example, documents, guidelines, and toolkits detail strategies for HIV/AIDS testing and counselling, prevention and treatment in sex work settings, and other ART applications. Figures and facts are provided, as are advocacy kits, photographs, and public service announcements (PSAs). One section, titled "Voices of People Living with HIV and AIDS", shares stories of particular individuals around the world who have benefitted from ART.

HIV/AIDS, Rights, Development Assistance.

According to WHO, approximately 6 million people living with AIDS in the developing world are in need of ART; every year, 3 million people die because they cannot get the treatment they need. To achieve the "3 by 5", WHO estimates that countries need US$ 5.5 billion over the next two years. Since the 3 by 5 initiative started in 2003, the number of countries establishing national treatment targets has risen from 4 to 40.