Addressing HIV/AIDS in the Forgotten Regions
GRUPO DE APOIO PREVENÇÃO À AIDS- BAHIA (GAPA)
Organizational Vision
Citizen Base Strategy
Results
GAPA is an organization seeking to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention throughout the country. In an innovative approach to resource mobilization, GAPA is targeting remote corners of Bahia, where poverty rates are highest and where HIV/AIDS has targeted a population group which is not effectively served by government-sponsored prevention programs: Afro-Brazilians. In Bahia, 43 percent of the population is illiterate; among Afro-Brazilians, who make up 80 percent of the population, the unemployment rate is 22.8 percent. Brazil ranks third in the world for the number of people infected with the HIV/AIDS virus.
Despite the clear demand for GAPA's services — they directly serve 20,000 people per year and reach 1.8 million more through public education campaigns — funding for his organization is difficult to come by. During the last two years, GAPA has invested in strategies that will allow them to reduce their dependence on international resources by converting to local sources. With that in mind, GAPA has concentrated its fundraising efforts on the private sector, art celebrities, media, entrepreneurs and clients from the tourism and entertainment sector.
Salvador, a beach resort in Bahia, Brazil, is the center of the Afro-Brazilian community and a tourist hot-spot. Each year it attracts thousands of foreign tourists who infuse the local economy with hard currency – giving an otherwise poor community, a major boost. Unfortunately, economic gain isn't the only impact tourists have in Bahia – HIV/AIDS is on the rise in the area, and proliferated, to a great extent, by a growing sex tourism industry.
GAPA has established relationships with the management of six hotels in Bahia. The hotels allow them to advertise AIDS awareness through condom displays and posters within each hotel and offer logistical support and the assistance of hotel staff. Guests may choose to give an additional 5% of the total of their bill, or another amount determined by the guest, as a donation to GAPA.
It is estimated that from the six hotels, GAPA will receive approximately 1350 Brazilian Reals per month, or 16,200 Brazilian Reals during the peak tourist season (US $8,000.00).