Paediatric partners visit South Africa for age-appropriate disclosure training

Last updated on: 15 April 2025

Learning across borders

In April 2025, our paediatric partners Indonesia AIDS Coalition, KidAID (Cameroon), COWLHA (Malawi), Action for Community Care (Tanzania) and Primrose Community Health Organisation (Zambia) traveled to South Africa. They took part in an enriching exchange visit focused on age appropriate disclosure training for children living with HIV organised by ZoeLife. The visit was part of the ongoing collaboration under the KidzAlive program, designed to strengthen community based approaches to pediatric HIV care. Ferry Norila of Indonesia AIDS Coalition, Kenan Ng’ambi of PRICHO and Pendo Maiseli of Action for Community Care report back from the exchange visit.

“The exchange featured immersive training sessions and site visits, allowing the IAC team to observe best practices in action, including child friendly disclosure methods, school-based health education, and innovative support models like the Grandparents SPARK sessions”, Ferry kicks off.

What are your key takeaways?

“One of the most important lessons we’ve taken from this visit is the importance of separating support groups by age. This helps provide tailored counseling and creates a comfortable space for children to learn and ask questions.”, Ferry continues. “The team also noted the potential of tools like the “Talk Tool” (printed and apps) disclosure module, which could complement Indonesia’s existing guidelines that currently lack practical, child centered implementation tools.”

Why Do These Exchanges Matter?

“Different approaches are implemented by the different partners and this brings different unique ideas or interventions that are not done by other countries. These platforms give partners the opportunity to tap into knowledge sharing and obviously replicate it back home”, says Kenan.

Ferry: “Cross country learning opportunities like this exchange are essential for inspiring innovation and contextual adaptation. Seeing firsthand how similar bureaucratic and cultural challenges are tackled in South Africa provided valuable insights for improving Indonesia’s own pediatric HIV programs.”

“We were especially impressed with the Grandparents SPARK group, which not only supports disclosure but also includes social and economic empowerment. It’s something we’d like to explore further in Indonesia,” adds Ferry’s colleague Nisa. Pendo concludes: “It deepens the partnership between the organisations involved which can lead to more collaboration in future.”

What’s the first thing on your list when back home?

Pendo: “We are going to cascade the knowledge to our colleagues at work and together support the community health workers, health care workers and caregivers in the disclosure process to their children. Secondly, we will discuss with the designated government officials on the possibilities to integrate or introduce the package of disclosure from the Zoelife in our guidelines and programs.”

Ferry: “Building on the insights gained, IAC will begin advocating to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education to create stronger collaboration, especially for integrating school based HIV education programs. The team also plans to review demographic data to assess the feasibility of implementing segmented support groups tailored to children’s age and caregiver types, such as grandparents. Additionally, efforts will be made to adapt the KidzAlive tools and materials like the KidzAdherence and disclosure modules, so they are culturally and linguistically relevant to Indonesia’s context.”

Kenan: “We will facilitate a two-day orientation on the KidzAlive model with the programme staff. The orientation sessions will contribute to enhancing the knowledge levels of our programme staff including the strengthening the community-based HIV services for children living with HIV.”

 

Photos: Ferry Norila