AIDS Concern, Hong Kong
AIDS Concern’s mission is to keep HIV prevalence in Hong Kong low through targeted prevention and care programs for vulnerable communities, and to reduce the stigma attached to the disease and the communities most affected.  AIDS Concern primarily targets its services to high risk groups such as sex workers, truck drivers and men who have sex with men.
In partnership with the M·A·C Affiliate in Hong Kong, the M·A·C AIDS Fund provided a grant for a project targeting a vulnerable population of men who have sex with men (MSMs) and who have cross-border (between Hong Kong and Shenzhen) sex partners.  New HIV cases in MSM’s comprises over 30% of the country’s HIV positive population—a rate that has steadily increased since 2003.  The risk of infection for this group was more than 10 times that of women and three times that of heterosexual men. 
With the M·A·C AIDS Fund grant, AIDS Concern will continue to conduct weekly outreach sessions held at high traffic MSM networking venues and outreach workers will distribute safer sex materials (condoms and educational brochures).  The program will also promote counseling and testing in this population.  Finally, the program will build leadership and capacity by recruiting and training MSMs from within the community to serve as peer educators. 

Malaysian AIDS Foundation, Malaysia
The Malaysian AIDS Foundation (MAF) is one of the country’s leading charitable trusts that seeks to: prevent the spread of HIV in Malaysia; educate the public, and national and local authorities in matters relating to HIV/AIDS; support PLWHA in Malaysia; protect the human rights of people who may suffer discrimination due to their HIV status; and support HIV organizations in carrying out activities and services. 
The Malaysian AIDS Foundation’s Pediatric AIDS Fund is one of the organization’s core programs.  The program helps poor Malaysian children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS by raising funds for direct care and support services. Children are given medical care, one viral load test every six months, transportation to access HIV treatment, accommodations if travel is required for treatment access, and a monthly stipend.  The Pediatric AIDS Fund has benefited more than 550 children since its inception. The Wake 1 – Shelter Home serves as a shelter for children infected by HIV through mother-to-child transmission. Currently, Wake 1 houses 15 children from the ages of 1-12 and provides a safe, loving and non-violent environment to these affected children.

UNICEF, China
The M·A·C AIDS Fund has awarded 1 million Renminbi ($129,000 USD) donation to UNICEF-China in support of the "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" global campaign, launched last year by the Chinese Government.  In an effort to educate Chinese youth, the M∙A∙C AIDS Fund and UNICEF will launch "The Ten Facts on AIDS" campaign. The "Ten Facts" will tell young people how to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS while encouraging them also to respect those living with or affected by the pandemic.  The M∙A∙C AIDS Fund donation will be used to mobilize Youth Ambassadors and celebrities from China for the vital task of raising youth awareness.  "This partnership demonstrates China's private sector leadership in responding to young people and AIDS", said UNICEF-China Representative Dr. Yin Yin Nwe at the press event, "it is an excellent example of a win-win partnership-for young people, for businesses, for China's fight against AIDS."
While prevention education is a key message of the campaign, anti-discrimination is another equally important theme. Ambassadors will also work to end discrimination against HIV positive populations.  They will encourage acceptance of the disease in their communities so that infected persons can feel safe to access the Chinese government's life saving prevention, care and treatment services.
Building win-win partnerships for Youth AIDS Prevention in China — As in most of Asia, where 80 per cent of new HIV infections occur in the 15-24 age group, China's children and youth represent the majority of the 70,000 new infections each year. Despite increased government investment in mass education campaigns, many young people-especially underserved populations of migrants, ethnic minorities, and the unemployed-still don't know how to protect themselves from the epidemic.  This HIV/AIDS education gap is not limited to rural areas. A 2006 survey of over 2,000 middle-school students in a major Chinese city revealed that 40 percent of respondents did not use a contraceptive during the first sexual experience.
Empowering Youth to Become a Force for Change — Over one hundred Youth Ambassadors will work on the "Ten Facts" campaign.  These Ambassadors, who have been nominated by their peers for their outstanding community work on HIV/AIDS prevention and care, will teach their friends and family how to protect themselves from the disease. They will learn and teach "The Ten Facts" through peer education activities that draw on art, theatre, sports and the Internet to convey ideas. 
Read the full press release

YouthAIDS, Vietnam
In 2007, YouthAIDS, a division of Population Services International, was chosen as M·A·C’s Kids Helping Kids recipient for their innovative work using peer education in Vietnam as an effective HIV-prevention method.  Peer education has been shown to draw upon the credibility and feelings of trust that young adults have with their peers, to leverage the power of role modeling and to support the development of positive group norms and healthy decision-making to prevent HIV. 
With M·A·C AIDS Fund support, YouthAIDS launched a pilot program aimed at reaching young, at-risk populations to prevent HIV infection by conducting outreach at popular gathering venues such as bars and cafes.  The program will train new peer educators to counsel at-risk groups, including injection drug users and young sex workers, as well as offer HIV testing.  Peer educators will also make clean syringes and needles available to encourage safe injection practices during counseling. 
In Vietnam, where the HIV epidemic is concentrated in young injecting drug users and sex worker populations, this program allows for youth that are HIV-positive to get the care and support they need and to become aware of behavior change needed to avoid transmitting the disease to others.