Stay On – Sustainably retaining people living with HIV in care

With a growing number of people living with HIV on treatment, retention in care is increasingly important. Therefore, in the past three years, in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Nigeria three partner organisations have implemented the Stay On project. Results show that this project has successfully applied contextualized models responding to the unique needs of people living with HIV with tailored comprehensive care and support for treatment retention.

Impact in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Mozambique

In Nigeria, YouthRISE targeted the diverse needs of people living with HIV especially young key population. They reached 2,261 people living with HIV of which 100% of them were linked to care. 97% achieved ART retention and by the end of the project viral suppression was 95%.

While in Ethiopia, Family Guidance Association Ethiopia (FGAE) focused on female sex workers and provided comprehensive, non-discriminatory HIV treatment and care in 10 female sex worker friendly clinics in urban centres. They have been able to provide outreach to 102,715 female sex workers of which 864 were newly initiated on ART and 1,687 were supported to continue treatment. Further, FGAE organised 8,050 peer dialogue sessions and coffee ceremonies in hotspot areas.

Stay-on in Mozambique through ADPP included community adherence groups, and economic empowerment to enhance retention. With a holistic model, 9,524 people living with HIV were supported with 4,099 people who tested positive for HIV mobilised to join community-based support structures, such as TRIOs – made up of one person living with HIV and two people who they trust and feel close to.

Implementation stories

Three factsheets are available for download reflecting the different models, results, lessons learned and recommendations of the three Stay On projects.

We are Family – Results Stay On Project Nigeria

A Bridge to Life – Factsheet Stay On Project Results Ethiopia

Together We Stay On – Project Results Stay On Mozambique

Webinar

The Stay On projects presented their work in a dissemination webinar.

About Stay On

As a growing number of people living with HIV are on treatment, Aidsfonds’ Stay On call looked ahead and broadened the focus from saving lives to sustaining successes for the next decades. With the call, Aidsfonds aimed to support civil society organisations to develop, implement, and monitor interventions to sustainably retain people with HIV in care. Of course this had a strong focus on those most vulnerable to drop-out and is in line with the Universal Health Coverage commitments.