Health & Development Networks (HDN)

HDN is a non-profit organization that works to improve communication, expand discourses and promote self-representation in the HIV/AIDS and related health fields on international, regional and national levels. They are currently active in three regions - Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. Among others, HDN seek to target countries that are often overlooked, such as those with poor internetⁱ connectivityⁱ.

HDN's goals are to:

• Increase the number of people involved in popular discussion of HIV/AIDS and other health- and development-related issues;
• Promote advocacy, partnerships and networking;
• Improve the quality of and access to information;
• Increase accountability and transparency in decision-making related to HIV/AIDS and other health- and development-related issues at local, national and international levels.

To reach their goals, HDN has established and manages many HIV/ AIDS-related national , regional, international and topic-based eForums, such as Gender-AIDS or Break-the-Silence.

HDN's activities are driven by believe that an effective response to health-issues requires a local participation, accountability and a sense of stakeholder ownership, however the current health- and development-related discourses are mostly exclusive and only rarely encourage direct civil society participation in debate or priority-setting. Thereby HDNs eForums provides the platform for thousands of people and civil society organizations at all levels to connect, to freely learn from the actions and experiences of others, and to adapt these lessons in their own contexts. By facilitating this global networking, HDN also wants to ensure that civil society perspectives, priority issues and needs are heard and continually promoted around important emerging issues and events concerning the HIV/AIDS.