HIV/AIDS Counselling, Just a Phone Call Away: Four Case Studies of Telephone Hotline/Helpline Projects

This monograph presents case studies of four HIV/AIDS hotlines: the South African AIDS Helpline; The National AIDS Hotline of Trinidad and Tobago; the Remedios AIDS Foundation Hotline based in Manila, The Philippines; and the nongovernmental organization (NGO) called Talking About Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues (TARSHI) of New Delhi, India. These helplines were chosen on the basis of how well they fit the UNAIDS Best Practices criteria for telephone helplines, how well documented the program had been, the amount of data gathered and how the data were used. They illustrate the principles that make helplines so successful in providing HIV/AIDS information and counseling, the challenges helplines face, and the creative approaches that can be taken to meet those challenges.