Namibia HIV Prevention, Care, and Support Program

IntraHealth is leading a five-year, USAID-funded program working with Namibian faith-based mission hospitals, nongovernmental organizations, and professional organizations to build HIV prevention, testing, care, and treatment capacity. The prevention efforts focus on students, community members, health workers, and pregnant women; the treatment, care, and support programs focus on people affected by and infected with HIV.

Launched in 2008, the initiative focuses on:

  • Preventing the transmission of HIV
  • Improving access to HIV testing and counseling
  • Developing treatment, care, and support programs for people living with HIV.

The program aims to meet its objectives through the following strategies:

  • Providing HIV prevention information and behavior change messages
  • Improving access to HIV counseling and testing
  • Providing HIV treatment and care
  • Providing prevention of mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT) of HIV services
  • Expanding a human resources information system to aid in health care capacity-building.

As of March 30, 2009, the program supported 12,047 patients receiving antiretroviral therapy, of which 1,909 were under 15 years of age. By the end of June 2009, the program provided 18,000 clients with palliative care for AIDS and tuberculosis coinfection. Over this six-month period the program:

  • Supported HIV counseling and testing for 26,826 people
  • Launched efforts aimed at increasing the uptake of couples’ counseling services
  • Reached 16,473 people with abstinence and fidelity messages
  • Promoted behavior change and the correct and consistent use of condoms to 17,665 people
  • Provided PMTCT services to 760 women
  • Provided DNA polymerase chain reaction testing for HIV to 706 children at six weeks of age.

In addition to clinical services, the program has worked with the Ministry of Health and Social Services to roll out a human resources information system in three pilot regions. This system tracks health workers from the time they enter the Ministry of Health and Social Services until they leave the workforce, capturing data on training, certification, licensing, deployment, and reasons for attrition. Data capture for the entire system was 91% complete for the nearly 10,000 health workers involved in the pilot regions.

Contact: Dr. Emad Aziz, Chief of Party
Mail: 351 Dr. Sam Nujoma Drive, Klein Windhoek, Windhoek, Namibia
Telephone: +264.61.303.799