To support the scale up of safe male circumcision among HIV negative males aged 15-29 years to reach 27.2% (127, 000) of national target by 2014

ACHAP has committed to support the Government of Botswana's efforts in scaling-up Safe Male Circumcision (SMC) services to reach the intended national target of 467,262 (0-49 years) by 2016

ACHAP will directly contribute towards reaching the target of 127 000 (27.2%) of the national target among males aged 15-29 years. ACHAP's articulated support included two approaches; firstly supporting general government efforts in the scale up process.

Secondly by supporting implementation of a service delivery model that would facilitate rapid scale up of SMC in 12 districts over a period of five years.

To empower youth aged 15-29 years especially female youth in the 11 selected districts to adopt and maintain safer sexual practices by 2014

In line with Botswana national goal of eliminating new HIV infection by 2016, ACHAP is in the process of developing innovative evidence based interventions focused on empowering young women 15-29 years adopt safe and healthy sexual practices. The Epidemiology reveals that young women in Botswana are hyper vulnerable to HIV. While prevalence declines have been recorded among young women aged 15 -24, (18.2% in 2004 to 10.7% in 2008) after two decades prevention interventions, and nine years of a successful public treatment programme, the epidemic remains severe, and incidence levels are high.

HIV prevalence increases with age over a span of 10 years from 5% in 15 - 19, to 33.9 in the 25 - 29. Prevalence rates in the age group 15 - 29 are two to three times higher in young women than in their male counterparts. Incidence rates among young people increases from 0.7% in the 15 - 19 age group, to 3,3% in the 20 - 24 age group, rising to 5.4% in the 25 - 29 age group, with incidence being higher among females than males.

To systematically transition the support for the programmatic aspects of the ART treatment programme to the Government of Botswana by December 2011 and enable the national programme to sustain quality and maintain treatment coverage

ACHAP's support of the treatment programme during Phase I of programme implementation yielded significant gains in terms of national scale-up, coverage and reduction of mortality due to HIV/AIDS. Other partners including PEPFAR and the Clinton Foundation are providing additional support to the Government in the roll out of the ARV treatment programme. With support from these partners and ACHAP's continued support, the ART programme has steadily advanced. Given the changing financial atmosphere, there is a need for balanced resource input considering the need to scale up HIV prevention interventions to a level that will contribute to a significant reduction in HIV prevalence.

Given the changing financial atmosphere, there is a need for balanced resource input considering the need to scale up HIV prevention interventions to a level that will contribute to a significant reduction in HIV prevalence.

To strengthen the National TB Programme in order to improve access to and utilization of integrated HIV and TB services on a national scale by 2014

TB and HIV are global emergencies whose deadly interaction affect millions and threaten global public health. HIV infection is a leading risk factor for TB through promoting the progression of latent and recent infections of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) into active disease. It also increases the rate of recurrence of TB. Botswana has one of the severe most TB epidemics globally with between 60% - 86% of TB patients being co-infected with HIV; a significant concern is the increase in MDR- TB in a population, which is already highly susceptible due to HIV/AIDS. The current effort by ACHAP focuses on strengthening provision of integrated services through support for TB/HIV policy and strategy development and implementation, as well as advocacy and communication to raise the profile of and the performance and impact of TB and HIV services.

The current effort by ACHAP focuses on strengthening provision of integrated services through support for TB/HIV policy and strategy development and implementation, as well as advocacy and communication to raise the profile of and the performance and impact of TB and HIV services.