'.
3.
{c)
Facilitating the expansion of workplace programmes on
HIV/AIDS prevention and management among all levels of the
workforce, supported by appropriate policy and legal
frameworks;
(d)
Development of service and caring capacity among all people
caring for the HIV/AIDS infected persons, including the home
based care providers, as well as upgrading of diagnostic and
related technologies;
{e)
Expanding access to voluntary counselling and testing;
{f)
Preventing and removing stigma silence, discrimination, and
denial which continue to hamper and undermine HIV control
efforts, particularly, towards the people living with HIV and AIDS;
{g)
Putting in place national legislation and regional legal regimes to
ensure the availability of technologies and drugs at affordable
prices for treatment, including bulk purchasing of drugs and
manufacturing of generic medicines in the region;
{h)
Increasing access to affordable essential medicines, including
ARVs and related technologies, through regional initiatives for
joint purchasing of drugs, with the view of ensuring the
availability of drugs through sustainable mechanisms, using
funds from national budgets;
{i)
Investing in nutrition programmes and promoting the use of
nutritional supplements, production and consumption of locally
available foods;
0)
Developing a regulatory framework and institutional capacity for
the testing and utilisation of traditional medicines.
Accelerating Development and mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS
by:
{a)
Creating and sustaining an enabling environment conducive to
gender-balance, rapid and broad-based socio-economic
development of the Region and addressing major underlying
factors that lead to the spread of the HIV infection;
{b)
Harmonising policies and strategies and undertaking joint
programmes in the priority intervention areas including
prevention, treatment, care, support, nutrition and food security;
{c)
Enhancing the regional initiatives to facilitate access to
HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support for people
living along our national borders, including sharing of best
practices;
5