That community clinical interface is where everything begins
Last updated on: 06 March 2024
We need the community health workers to be working closely hand in hand with the facility staff to ensure that everything begins at the community, and that adherence support is given to the children. Says Mark Ddungu, Clinical Strengthening Specialist at MildMay Uganda, and one of the valuable partners in the Towards an AIDS free Generation in Uganda (TAFU) programme. He reflects on eight years of TAFU programme and why collaboration between the health facility and the community is so important in ensuring children living with HIV have access to the care they need. Watch his interview!
“Children come from the community. So it’s very important that we have that bottom up approach where everything begins from the community. There are a lot of structures that exist, at least in most of the communities in Uganda. So we need the community health workers, people like VHTs, and other community health workers to be working closely hand in hand with the facility staff to ensure that everything begins at the community, that adherence support is given to these children, especially for children that are not suppressing on their viral loads to keep following them up every day to ensure that they are actually taking their pills in the right dose. So that community clinical interface is actually very important because that’s where everything begins. The hope for the future is to end HIV in children, right from the mother to child transmission, because it is really preventable.”
About Towards an AIDS Free Generation in Uganda (TAFU) Programme
The Towards an AIDS Free Generation in Uganda programme was Aidsfonds’ first paediatric HIV community intervention programme co-created with Ugandan community-based partner organisations. The program trained community resource persons and village health teams to identify children living with HIV, refer them to health facilities and follow up on them after they are enrolled in HIV care. Based on the successes and learnings of TAFU in Uganda, Aidsfonds scaled paediatric HIV programming to four other countries between 2018-2021: Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique and Nigeria. These five programmes, co-developed with partner organisations form the basis for the Aidsfonds Kids to Care model for community-based paediatric HIV programming.
The Towards an AIDS Free Generation in Uganda (TAFU) programme was Aidsfonds’ first paediatric HIV community intervention programme. The programme trained up community health workers to identify HIV positive children, and link individuals to care and ongoing support. The programme was co-created through community leadership and engagement with key stakeholders, building on community knowledge of the needs of children living with HIV. Towards an AIDS Free Generation in Uganda changed the way that community-based paediatric HIV services were delivered.
Aidsfonds Closes its Emergency Fund for HIV Response
Aidsfonds Closes its Emergency Fund for HIV Response
In response to the 90-day freeze of USAID and PEPFAR funding, Aidsfonds launched the Emergency Fund for the HIV Response on the 14th of February. This fund provided current and previous Aidsfonds and the Robert Carr Fund partners with funding to bridge the 90 day-pause and contribute to the continuation of lifesaving services. The overwhelming number of applications we received in the first days highlighted the urgent need for this support. On the 27th of February, the situation took a drastic turn when the U.S. Government decided to terminate nearly all contracts with USAID and PEPFAR funded organisations. This decision is devastating for the HIV response and changes the situation from starting as a short-term emergency to evolving into a long-term humanitarian crisis.
Sidaction and Aidsfonds are pleased to jointly launch a 2 million euros call for scientific proposals for the year 2025, dedicated to accelerating advances in HIV cure research. This initiative aims to mobilise researchers from France, the Netherlands and African countries around this crucial issue for global health.
