- Offering services (such as counseling, health education classes) that are user friendly.
- Ease as a client moves from one point to another in the clinic, with proper referrals and linkage to needed services
- Developing and deploying of services data collection tools
- Working with appropriate teams to create support groups for people living with HIV
- Identifying, training People Living with HIV to serve as peer educators
- Creating awareness about services beneficial to clients through advocacy to stakeholders, community leaders
- Developing training curricula for different cadre of care providers
- Visiting clients at home to offer care services
- Ensuring that health care workers stay safe by practicing universal precautions eg. in the use of needle and syringes.
Clinical Care and Support Activities at Facilities
Our work ensures that when clients go to health facilities we support, they are
- Counseled and educated on the basics areas like HIV diagnosis, disease outcome, positive living, prevention of transmission/re-infection, safe water system etc.
- Assessed on their disease status (staging of clients)
- Checked to monitor, spot problems early and refer appropriately
- Checked to identify those requiring emergency or urgent attention
- Referred appropriately to services they may need like, support groups, adherence counseling, community home based tracking for those who s missed appointment, coordinated and highly individualized services at community level, and to other implementing partners and non-governmental organization outlets.
Adherence Counseling Services
The success of antiretroviral therapy lies in clients’ ability to adhere to their drugs and clinic appointment. We work with health facilities to identify adherence counsellors, volunteers and peer educators to counsel clients. Job-aids are used to prepare clients to start treatment and adhere to their HIV medication.
A lot of attention is given to clients with unsuppressed viral load. Enhanced adherence counseling (EAC) is carried out and repeat viral load tests are done.
Nutrition Services
We train health care providers to conduct nutrition assessment for all clients. Clients are also provided with nutritional education.
Support Group Activities
We support the creation and coordination of PLHIV support groups and train peer educators on Interpersonal Communication (IPC) counseling. The aim is to run community support groups, a gold standard, to break barriers to stigma and discrimination.
Our activities include building the capacity of support group members to achieve self-sustainability. Others include, linking people living with HIV within the community for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) services, Income Generating Activities, and to other PLHIV groups.
Unit contact email: pct@ihvnigeria.org
