Traditional Leaders Championing Prevention of Domestic Violence and HIV in their Communities in Lesotho - Harmful Traditional Practices must change to Protect Women! â € “ Engaging men as Protectors.â € 

SAfAIDS is implementing a programme namely, â € œTraditional Leaders Championing Prevention of Domestic Violence and HIV in their Communities in Lesotho - Harmful Traditional Practices must change to Protect Women! â € “ Engaging men as Protectorsâ €  The programme focuses mainly on influencing change in traditional and cultural practices that fuel domestic violence and HIV among women. Traditional and religious leaders as well as community based volunteers are key targets for social change at community level. Women and girls are the beneficiaries of the programme. It is implemented in partnership with the Society for Women and AIDS Africa Lesotho (SWAALES), Lesotho Network of People Living with HIV (LENEPHWA), Phelisanang Bophelong (PB) and Lesotho Bishops Conference (LCBC). There is a need to actively engage traditional leadership structures and tackle harmful cultural practices, while bringing protective cultural practices to the fore. Multiple community-based HIV and gender based violence (GBV) interventions and operational research are related through programme documentation. Research conducted at regional level around the links between womenâ € ™s rights, HIV and gender inequalities reveals that service providers and community groups are concerned that traditional structures continued to be excluded from mainstream HIV & GBV responses. This has countered progress in behaviour change. There is also evidence that during policy dialogues, the exclusion of traditional mechanisms from mainstream responses was impeding change.Significantly, this can contribute to the prevention and eradication of intimate violence/ domestic violence against women (DVAW) aged 15-49 years in Lesotho by 2015. This can be done by promoting gender equality, ensuring womenâ € ˜s rights and a reduction of harmful cultural practices that fuel DVAW. This is due to the fact that in Lesotho, domestic violence is recorded as the biggest cause of HIV and AIDS and results in failure to adherence on ART.