Great Lakes Initiative on AIDS (GLIA)
Countries in the Great Lakes Region of Africa (Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Uganda), all of which have been hard hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, established national AIDS control programs to combat the spread of the epidemic in the 1980s.
The national response varied with the situation in each country. With growing recognition of the seriousness of the epidemic and the need for multisectoral responses, the Great Lakes countries sought more comprehensive ways to address their national problems and substantial resources to carry out programs.
In parallel to national efforts, and motivated by a shared readiness to develop inter-country collaboration to fight epidemics, the Ministers in charge of the coordination of the fight against HIV/AIDS have created the "Great Lakes Initiative on AIDS" (GLIA) in 1998, identified GLIA's mission and put in place the different GLIA organs including the Counsel of Ministers, the Executive Committee, the Executive Secretariat and the Focal Points.
