Community-Led Improvement Teams Fight Hiv

Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Monday March 6, 2017 15:47

The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and USAID, through the USAID ASSIST project, are supporting the government to strengthen the community health system response to HIV/AIDS.

Community led improvement teams made of community leaders, district officials and health workers from Gaborone, Kgatleng and Kweneng East districts met last week in Gaborone where they exchanged ideas and discussed practical experiences of community improvement teams.

In an interview with The Monitor, Kgosi Rabby Moshapa of Gakgatla village in Kweneng said his team aimed at encouraging the public to take care of their health. He said many people are not aware of other services offered in clinics.

 “We have also realised that people go for HIV testing once and when they find themselves negative they feel they are okay and don’t see the need to do regular check-ups. We encourage the community to test themselves every three months and continue taking care of themselves. For those who are positive, they must enroll for ARV treatment and take care of themselves,” he said.

Onameditse Phaladi, Tokafatso Matshelo community improvement team secretary in Bokaa expressed concern over people who default on treatment. She said self-transfers caused some of those defaults, which has resulted in many deaths.

“I feel this initiative is good because we know each other as the community. This has helped us make follow-ups. We teach people at cattle posts and fields about the importance of taking treatment,” she said.

Phaladi added that they had discovered that 22 people defaulted treatment and they were able to re-initiate them. She said that some patients dumped their ARVs in dustbins. According to deputy chairperson of Mosekomotse Ward Development Committee (WDC) in Gaborone West, also a chairperson of Yatsie Community Improvement Tefelo Setiko, they aimed to get as much Batswana as possible tested for HIV.

“We found it fit to take our services to their workplaces. This saved them time, as they did not have to leave their job and travel to the clinics. We have since seen the number of people getting tested for HIV increasing. The baselines used to be 46 in three months compared to around 117 and 112 on monthly basis,” he said.

Setiko explained that they intended to make people living with HIV know their status and enroll for treatment and encourage others to maintain their negative status. According to quality improvement advisor Kesa Dikgole, through dialogue with government, ASSIST Botswana was able to identify shared interests around quality and align its project design with GoB plans for decentralisation and stronger roles of communities.

“Working with district officials and community leaders, ASSIST oriented community groups on the formation of community improvement teams (CITs).”