The West Africa Regional Program Ambassadors' AIDS Fund was initiated in response to the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic and requests from US Ambassadors in West African countries without a USAID mission for resources to help support local HIV/AIDS programs. Through this initiative, AWARE-HIV/AIDS provides support in the form of annual sub-grants to local or international non-governmental organizations in each participating country to work on specific HIV/AIDS activities identified by US Embassies.

WAAF grant recipients reflect the multidimensional aspect of HIV/AIDS prevention and care. Funding and technical support have been provided to organizations working in the following programmatic areas:

• Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT)

• Behavior change communications (BCC)

• HIV/AIDS training

• Condom social marketing

• Income generating activities (IGAs)

• Advocacy

• Care and support for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC)

• Care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS

Interventions target vulnerable populations, including youth, women, sex workers and people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as opinion influencers, like health professionals, religious leaders and traditional healers.