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.
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At a time when budgets are under strain, priorities are competing, and the world feels increasingly unstable, stepping up for people affected by HIV, TB and malaria around the world is very welcome and a clear sign of the EU’s ambition to lead on global health. This commitment will help save millions of lives and keep everyone safer, including in Europe. It will support Africa’s ability to lead on its own health priorities, and build resilience in places under severe stress. This includes countries affected by war, such as Ukraine, where the continuity of HIV and TB services is critical not only for emergency response, but also for long-term recovery. With many donors cutting back on aid, the Commission’s renewed support for the Global Fund sends a much-needed signal of leadership and solidarity.
