Although the drought ended by late 1993, the Drought Network continued to meet informally every month so that participants could continue discussing issues related to health. These gatherings eventually led to the establishment of the more formal Southern Region AIDS Network (SORAN). This group of representatives from government, NGOs and other voluntary organizations focuses on awareness-raising, lobbying and advocacy.

SORAN's formation was facilitated by the existing information exchange forum. Members were already acquainted with one another's particular interests and strengths. As an initial step towards networking on HIV/AIDS issues, a festival was organized in Blantyre on 4 December 1993 by NGOs, private companies, church groups, schoolchildren and volunteers. Sinthani Khalidwe Tsopano, Chichewa for "behaviour change now", was chosen as the local interpretation for the World AIDS Day theme "time to act".

About 2000 people gathered to celebrate life, listen to music, learn about HIV transmission, experience spoken messages through drama group presentations, watch videos with HIV/STD prevention messages and learn proper condom use. A hospital physiotherapy department, together with home-based care groups, demonstrated simple techniques of caring for terminally-ill people with comfort. A group of AIDS-educated traditional healers also participated in education and counselling sessions.

Energized and converted to multisectoral collaboration by this successful event, the participants officially established SORAN in February 1994. The network's overall objective is to act as a coordinating body for organizations and individuals working in prevention and care for HIV/STD-infected and affected persons and their families. Members identify the following Network activities as important:

to assist and advise organizations interested in developing HIV/AIDS programmes and activities

to encourage the business, commercial and industrial communities to participate in multisectoral coordination and to help channel funds from them to HIV/AIDS programmes

to act as a resource centre for information about HIV/AIDS and to advise on message development and publication of (IEC) materials

to act in the capacity of a lobbying body among politicians as well as traditional local and religious leaders to encourage their visible commitment to the AIDS cause.

Despite the epidemic's rapid advance in Malawi, visible commitment to tackling it by politicians has generally been poor. SORAN has therefore given lobbying and advocacy work priority. When the first multi-party Parliamentary election approached in May 1994, SORAN challenged representatives of seven political parties and a women's organization to speak out publicly on what they envisioned doing about HIV/AIDS.

The framework for the challenge was a "Grand Walk", organized by SORAN members representing the Catholic Episcopal Conference of Malawi, the Protestant Blantyre Synod, Napolo Ukhana (a local brewery) and UNICEF. Citizens from every sector and all parts of the city were invited to walk through town to congregate in a park to listen to the politicians.

About 500 walkers received positive support from passersby, being greeted with cheers, waves and honking of horns to show solidarity. About 70% were schoolchildren aged 10-18 years (many adults were at other political rallies), who sang AIDS awareness songs and passed out flyers. When they reached the park, representatives of three parties and the women's organizations were there to speak. Unfortunately, the politicians' participation was somewhat disappointing. Although they had been asked to speak about their platforms and policies concerning AIDS, they instead delivered moralistic lectures on the dangers of AIDS and how individuals should behave.

Nevertheless, given the context of Malawi's political history, it was positive that the parties had even accepted to speak at this public forum. Moreover, three months later the National AIDS Programme arranged for the President to participate in a Big Walk for AIDS following a National AIDS Crisis Conference. That conference and walk officially launched the government's public recognition of the need for a multisectoral approach to tackling HIV/AIDS. Since the Grand Walk, SORAN has lobbied the government on issues through letter writing.

Gillian Knox, Steering Committee, SORAN, Box 2916, Blantyre, Malawi.