USAID HIV Care and Treatment Project

Mental Health Services Help Health Workers Improve HIV Services in Central America

kseaton — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 19:04:52 +0000

Mental Health Services Help Health Workers Improve HIV Services in Central America kseaton January 18, 2022

January 19, 2022

Health workers on the front lines of this pandemic get the help they need for stress, exhaustion, anxiety, and burnout.

"During the pandemic, there have been a lot of stressful moments,” says Juan,* a health worker who helps clients return to treatment after missing their previous appointments. “And those were in addition to continuing to reach the goals of our HIV program.”

It’s no secret that COVID-19 affects mental health and well-being for us all—but especially for health workers. Lack of knowledge about the disease, the spread of misinformation, and fear of contracting COVID-19 have taken a toll on our emotional and physical wellbeing.

Health workers on the front lines of this pandemic experience stress, exhaustion, anxiety, and burnout. At the same time, they’re getting less emotional support, sleep, family time, and time off. They suffer, and so do the health services they provide.

We had to take care of ourselves in the health center.

IntraHealth’s HIV Care and Treatment Project (HCTP) team knew that if health workers on our staff were suffering, so would their clients. So

IntraHealth offered 39 health workers in three countries mental health support through therapeutic sessions with a licensed therapist via phone or video calls to help reduce and manage their work-related stress.

“We had to take care of ourselves in the health center, as we were being exposed to clients at the clinic and others who regularly attend outpatient clinics,” Juan says. “IntraHealth provided us with psychological support to help us personally strengthen our attitudes to face this new reality we were living in.”

HCTP also helped health workers get vaccinated, advocated for vaccinations in the community, readjusted health worker workloads, instituted a flexible work policy to support health workers with family responsibilities, and helped them manage stigma, violence, or fear from family, friends, and their communities.

To do all this, the project began by screening health workers in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. The team then provided therapy to each health worker according to the level of need they expressed in their screening. Across each country, employees who expressed a low need received two sessions of therapy, those with medium need received four sessions, and those with high need received seven sessions. At each session, health workers discussed a variety of topics with the therapists, including how to manage:

Stress
Rejection by family, friends and/or the community after being exposed to COVID-19
Symptoms related to stress, anxiety, and/or depression
Regulating their emotions
Negative feelings
Self-care
Fears, feelings of helplessness, vulnerability, and loss of initiative.

Through their sessions, they acquired strategies and tools to manage physical symptoms and improve poor sleep and hygiene patterns, increase their physical care, and adequately manage the work stress they experienced.

And the sessions made a difference.

After the therapy sessions were complete, the project team noticed improvements in the physical, social, emotional, work, and family aspects of the health workers’ lives. The strong emotions many had experienced—such as frustration, anger, sadness, confusion, discouragement, isolation, loneliness, insecurity, and fear—also decreased.

“These sessions allowed us to not just see pure work, but sometimes also the moments to be listened to, moments to smile, to remember that it was not the time to look down on others, but on the contrary, to welcome them,” Juan says. “We had to get closer to people.”

Through these mental health services, the health workers learned to balance different areas of their lives and adapt to their new reality. They acquired strategies to assertively manage the stigma they experienced. Their symptoms of anxiety and depression decreased.

This was also helped by the COVID-19 vaccine. After IntraHealth advocated to the Ministry of Health to provide vaccines for its health workers, over 86% of the HCTP health workers were vaccinated as of September 2021, which helps them physically and mentally as they vaccinate other people in their communities.

We’ve seen first-hand that psychoeducation for health workers helps improve their physical and mental self-care at both a personal and professional level while reducing anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Now, health workers across three countries in Central America have the tools they need to be both physically and mentally healthy and can provide the right services for their clients when they need them. And we have the knowledge and tools to scale up mental health services in the region and around the world because investing in the mental health of health workers is an investment in the well-being of the communities they serve.

*Name has been changed to respect anonymity.

The HIV Care and Treatment Project is funded by the US Agency for International Development.

By Jenny Alcázar

Communications Specialist

USAID HIV Care and Treatment Project HIV & AIDS COVID-19 Health Workers El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Panama

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Meet Three Health Workers In Central America Who Won't Let COVID-19 Stand In the Way of HIV Care

kseaton — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 13:31:19 +0000

Meet Three Health Workers In Central America Who Won't Let COVID-19 Stand In the Way of HIV Care kseaton April 08, 2021

April 08, 2021

Here's how Fabricio, Eliana, and Ann Karina are keeping their clients safe and healthy.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, health workers in Central America have been working to ensure all people living with HIV have access to health care. In their communities throughout the region, they’re delivering medicines and adapting to new ways of providing services to the most vulnerable populations during the pandemic.

Here’s how.

Home visits in Guatemala

Pedro (not his real name) is a university student, who, according to his medical record, lives in Alotenango in the Guatemalan district of Sacatepéquez, 14 kilometers from the Hermano Pedro de Betancourt Hospital HIV Clinic (UAI).

The clinic provides services for people living with HIV in Sacatepéquez and its surrounding areas, such as Guatemala City, Escuintla, and Chimaltenango. When health workers at UAI noticed that Pedro wasn’t attending his appointments, they called him to find out why and check up on his health. This is one of the ways community liaisons at the clinic bring back clients who have been lost to follow-up or abandoned their treatment during the pandemic.

But their phone calls to Pedro were unsuccessful. When health workers couldn’t reach him over the phone, they coordinated with Fabricio, a community liaison, to conduct a home visit.

"I no longer live in Alotenango,” Pedro explained when Fabricio tracked him down. “I was fired from my job and had to move to Escuintla"—92 kilometers from UAI. "It has been difficult for me to return to UAI because of money problems and the distance. Also, the idea that I could be rejected for having been absent for several months made me feel bad."

"I told him that they would be excited to see Pedro again,” Fabricio says. “They were not going to scold or discriminate against him. For him to feel more comfortable, we promised to accompany him to reengage with the clinic. We also offered him the transfer from UAI to a clinic closer to his home."

Through awareness, sensitization, and emotional support, Fabricio was able to reengage Pedro with the HIV clinic, where he’s now getting the care he needs to suppress his HIV viral load and stay healthy.

This is just one of the ways USAID's HIV Care and Treatment Project (HCTP), led by IntraHealth International, is helping health workers reach more clients with high-quality, stigma-free care. Here’s another:

A health worker in Guatemala visits a client's home to deliver medicine. Photo by Anna Watts for IntraHealth International.

Medicine delivery in El Salvador

Picking up medicine in El Salvador became impossible for some people due to the mobility restrictions imposed by the government during COVID-19. So health workers have been delivering antiretroviral treatment to clients’ homes.

“It is essential that clients have access to medicines during the pandemic so that they do not interrupt their treatment,” says William Hernández, Entre Amigos Association director in El Salvador. Entre Amigos Association is a nonprofit member of HCTP that works to deliver antiretroviral treatment to clients’ homes in San Salvador, particularly for key populations—including sex workers and LGTBI individuals. They defend the human rights of the LGTBI population and work to prevent HIV transmission in the country.

Entre Amigos was so successful at these home deliveries that they caught the attention of the National Sextually Transmitted Infections/HIV Program, which requested their support to expand home deliveries. In February 2021, the HIV clinics at the Rosales, Soyapango, Sonsonate, and Saldaña National Hospital delivered antiretroviral treatment to 1,557 users.

“People are relieved because, despite the lack of transportation and the fear of COVID-19, they can keep taking their medications,” says Eliana Hernández, the community liaison for Entre Amigos. “With our support, they are committed to staying healthy.”

Quelling clients’ fears Panama

When 25-year-old John (not his real name) visited the HIV clinic at the Torrijos Carter Hospital in Panama for the first time, he was afraid. He didn’t know what to expect or whether he could trust the health workers there.

The fear diminished when he met an adherence promoter, Ann Karina. Ann Karina is part of the USAID HCTP team that has supported the clinic since 2018.

“John was in a vulnerable moment,” Ann Karina says. “His viral load levels—the amount of virus present in his blood—were high, and his defenses were low.”

Ann Karina is a key component in John’s adherence to his treatment. She accompanies him to all his HIV clinic visits.

"Her support has been unconditional,” John says. “You can feel her soul in each of the things she does for you.”

Ann Karina stays connected to her clients through WhatsApp messaging, a quick and approachable method she uses to provide them with counseling.

“Today I am fully healthy, thanks to her great work,” John says. “She does not treat us as patients, but as family.”

IntraHealth International’s HIV Care and Treatment Project in El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and Guatemala, is funded by USAID. It focuses on reaching clients with high-quality, stigma-free HIV services and works together to enroll and retain as many people living with HIV as possible on treatment.

By Claudia Guzmán

Graphic Design and Communications, HIV Care and Treatment Project

USAID HIV Care and Treatment Project HIV & AIDS COVID-19 World Health Worker Week

A nurse takes escorts a client to health services in Guatemala. Photo by Anna Watts for IntraHealth International.

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3 Ways Health Workers in Central America Are Delivering HIV Care during a Pandemic

kseaton — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 16:35:05 +0000

3 Ways Health Workers in Central America Are Delivering HIV Care during a Pandemic kseaton December 11, 2020

December 14, 2020

We’re adapting our health services to reach clients in new ways.

In Central America, the COVID-19 pandemic has created new barriers for people living with HIV to adhere to their antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen. People living with HIV face lack of transportation, reduced clinic hours and sites, and fear of going to clinics—all of which make it harder for them to continue taking their medication.

So health workers from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama are using some new approaches to help their clients overcome these obstacles.

alerTAR in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama

As part of the COVID-19 emergency response, many hospitals in Central America have reduced business hours, restricted access to outpatient consultation clinics and, in some cases—like at the Tela Hospital in Honduras—transferred HIV services to different clinics.

For clinic coordinator Dr. Nerlyn Gutierrez and his team, this was cause for concern. The health workers knew they needed to contact clients about the service location change, but had no way to communicate with them, which would make it hard for clients to obtain their medication or receive much-needed services.

So IntraHealth’s HIV Care and Treatment Project (HCTP) turned to the mobile phone platform alerTAR for a solution. The alerTAR system is a low-cost, CommCare-based tool that helps health workers at 26 ART clinics in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama send treatment reminders via SMS to thousands of clients who may be cut off from their usual health facilities. Tela Hospital implemented the alerTAR system in 2019 to strengthen retention and prevent clients from abandoning their ART.

Using AlerTAR, José Gutiérrez, the data entry officer for HCTP, sent 394 clients text messages with important information about the new clinic location and daily reminders about appointments and medication intake. Thanks to the helpful messages, HCTP provided care to 389 people in the new clinic.

“Sending messages through alerTAR is an excellent way to keep patients motivated and show them that many people care about their health,” Gutiérrez says. “Patients who received the messages were very happy and grateful, since it’s difficult for them to attend their medical appointments due to mobility restrictions, economic limitations, and lack of public transport.”

alerTar training in Guatemala. Photo taken by Mario Fernando Hernández for IntraHealth International.

Enhanced adherence counseling in Nicaragua

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, fear of the virus became a barrier for some clients. Many stopped attending integral care clinics despite the facilities' protective measures, such as all staff using face masks, increased hand-washing, use of hand sanitizer, and physical distancing. Because of this, 149 of the HIV Care and Treatment Project clients were ready to abandon their treatment instead of visiting HIV clinics.

But we didn’t want to let that happen. With our partner organization in Nicaragua, the Nicaraguan Association of Positive People (ANICP + VIDA), we connected clients with their treatment.

ANICP + VIDA employs enhanced adherence counseling and helps people living with HIV recognize the importance of their treatment, identify barriers to adherence, and learn strategies to overcome them so they can achieve and maintain viral suppression. When they learned that almost 150 people were thinking about abandoning their HIV treatment, ANICP + VIDA pivoted—and processed patient authorizations to obtain the medicines their clients needed and deliver it to their homes. They organized a team, created geographic service routes, and leveraged transportation methods to provide an immediate and effective response.

The new approach worked. Between March and August 2020, ANICP + VIDA delivered medicines to 199 people and conducted 297 home visits in the Nicaraguan districts of Managua, León, and Chinandega.

"Thanks to the support of ANICP + VIDA, I can access my ART without risking a COVID-19 infection,” says Marcos, an HCTP client. “I feel very satisfied with the service and support."

Home visits in Panama

Juanita*, 28, lives in Chiriquí, Panama, near the Costa Rican border. Each month she travels four to five hours, first by taxi then by bus, to visit an HIV clinic and pick up her ART medication. She has diligently kept up with her medical appointments and medicines despite the distance and her limited financial resources.

But when COVID-19 began to spread in Panama, she could no longer travel.

“I called Juanita to coordinate the delivery of her medication,” says Sayllin Martínez, an adherence promoter at David’s Integral Care Clinic. “She was worried about not taking her treatment.”

So Martínez went the extra mile, literally, to ensure Juanita and clients like her receive their medication during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To deliver medication, each patient is visited at home and asked to submit and sign paperwork that allows us to pick up the medication at the David Clinic's Pharmacy,” Martínez says. “After obtaining the medicine, we return to each patient’s home to drop it off. In Juanita’s case, the process took me two hours and 50 minutes each way.”

IntraHealth International’s HIV Care and Treatment Project in El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and Guatemala, is funded by USAID. It focuses on reaching clients with high-quality, stigma-free services and works together to enroll and retain as many people living with HIV as possible on treatment.

* Not her real name.

By Claudia Guzmán

Graphic Design and Communications, HIV Care and Treatment Project

USAID HIV Care and Treatment Project HIV & AIDS Health Workers El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama

A client received HIV medication at their home in Guatemala in August, 2017. Photo by Anna Watts for IntraHealth International.

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In Central America, Health Workers Keep HIV Services Available despite Dual Disasters

kseaton — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 19:04:59 +0000

In Central America, Health Workers Keep HIV Services Available despite Dual Disasters kseaton December 01, 2020

December 01, 2020

Health workers battle a pandemic and two hurricanes to get HIV treatment to clients in Central America.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created plenty of barriers for people living with HIV who need to continue their care and treatment. But when hurricanes Eta and Iota hit Central America in November, the barriers multiplied.

Pounding Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, and Guatemala for days, these two hurricanes brought heavy rains that led to flooding and landslides that devastated communities and affected millions.

In the face of these dual crises, health workers in Central America demonstrated strong leadership and commitment to their clients, using person-centered strategies to continue providing HIV/AIDS services. They knew they needed to maintain direct contact with their clients. They also knew this would be difficult, as the storms forced many to leave their homes.

When HIV clients move, the services must follow

While work, discrimination, and long distances to health services are usually the reasons people travel to neighboring countries for health care, COVID-19 and the two hurricanes have also influenced many Central Americans’ movements and forced many health facilities to close. Many HIV clients could no longer go to their usual places for care.

"Our objective during COVID-19 is to keep working."

So IntraHealth International's HIV Care and Treatment Project (HCTP) adapted its existing alert system alerTAR, to help find clients on the move and connect them to services no matter where they were. alerTAR is a rapid text messaging system that sends reminders to clients to take their medications, notifies them about upcoming clinic appointments, and generates immediate alerts to health personnel so they respond rapidly to clients who miss appointments or are at risk of stopping antiretroviral therapy (ART). It’s currently used in 34 HIV clinics in Central America.

When hurricanes Eta and Iota uprooted even more HIV-positive clients, IntraHealth used alerTAR to send 900 messages to clients who needed information. In Izabal, Guatemala, for example, they said "If you lost your medicine or have an appointment, come to the clinic or call this number.”

And using alerTAR and SUMEVE—the national HIV monitoring, evaluation, and epidemiological surveillance system in El Salvador—health workers from IntraHealth’s HCTP identified two Guatemalan clients and one Honduran client who normally access HIV services in El Salvador but couldn’t because of COVID-19. The three had shared their information through alerTAR, which helped them connect with health systems in other countries.

Adherence promoters, Beatriz Duque, from the Sonsonate National Hospital in El Salvador, and Pamela Molineros, from the Luis Ángel García Family Clinic of the San Juan de Dios National Hospital in Guatemala, conducted this type of coordination so that their clients could receive counseling and medication where they were.

"As a promoter, I feel satisfied having facilitated the delivery of medicine to a Salvadoran patient who was in Guatemala,” Beatriz says. “Because borders closed, she could not collect her medicine here, but was able to do so in Guatemala."

Juan*, used to get his clinic checkups at the Zacamil National Hospital in El Salvador, where he lived. But when the pandemic spread, he returned home to his native Honduras. Because he had consented to receiving messages through alerTAR, his contact information was on file and he could be linked with the Mario Catarino Hospital there.

"Our objective during this COVID-19 emergency is to keep working,” says Siro Argueta, the project’s country representative in El Salvador, "so that all patients with HIV continue to adhere to their treatment.

December 1 is World AIDS Day and this year we are celebrating the ingenuity and perseverance of health workers during COVID-19 through the PEPFAR theme: Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic Through Resilience and Impact.

IntraHealth International’s HIV Care and Treatment Project in El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and Guatemala, is funded by USAID. It focuses on reaching clients with high-quality, stigma-free services and works together to enroll and retain as many people living with HIV as possible on treatment.

*Names changed to respect confidentiality.

By Claudia Guzmán

Graphic Design and Communications, HIV Care and Treatment Project

USAID HIV Care and Treatment Project HIV & AIDS COVID-19 Digital Health World AIDS Day El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Panama

Photo by Trevor Snapp in El Salvador for IntraHealth International.

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mHealth Tool Is Keeping Central American Clients Connected to HIV Care amid COVID-19 Shutdowns

mnathe — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 14:18:39 +0000

mHealth Tool Is Keeping Central American Clients Connected to HIV Care amid COVID-19 Shutdowns mnathe April 01, 2020 April 01, 2020

In Central America, frontline health workers are using IntraHealth International’s mobile phone-based alerTAR system to let HIV clients know when, where, and how they can keep getting their antiretroviral therapies (ART), now that public transit and outpatient services in the region have halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

These closures and shutdowns are leaving many clients unsure about where to pick up their medications and making it difficult for them to adhere to their HIV treatment regimens. So IntraHealth’s USAID HIV Care and Treatment Project repurposed its alerTAR system—a low-cost, CommCare-based tool that helps health workers at 26 ART clinics in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama send treatment reminders via SMS—to reach thousands of clients who may be cut off from their usual health facilities and connect them to distribution points for retrieving their lifesaving medication.

Clients who receive SMS reminders are 80% more likely to reach viral suppression.

“Our alerTAR system was originally designed to send appointment and medication reminders, but COVID-19 introduced new challenges for keeping people living with HIV on treatment,” says IntraHealth’s Ricardo Lopez, the Guatemala-based IT advisor on the project who upgraded alerTAR for COVID-19 response. “Because contact information for some 10,000 HIV clients was already set up in alerTAR, we have been able to quickly roll out mobile outreach to HIV clients, letting them know if their nearest clinic or laboratory is closed, whether there are alternative hours or a contact number for making a new appointment, and most importantly where they can go to pick up their prescriptions while services are suspended.”

Central America is home to around 145,400 people who live with HIV, less than half of whom (70,200) are on ART. As of March 30, there were 1,198 cases confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the region, according to the Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA).

alerTAR allows health workers to send SMS appointment and medication reminders directly to ART clients’ mobile phones. The system triggers alerts for health workers when a client has missed appointments and is at risk of falling off treatment.

“We’ve found that clients who receive SMS reminders about their appointments and medication are 80% more likely to reach viral suppression,” says Ricardo Mendizabal, the project's senior HIV/AIDS advisor. “The percentage is even greater among key populations—men who have sex with men, for example, are 190% more likely to reach viral suppression than clients who don’t receive the SMS messages through alerTAR.”

In this emergency due to COVID-19, alerTAR has become more useful and effective.

IntraHealth’s Central America team has also moved quickly to provide health workers—including community liaisons and facility-based adherence promoters and data clerks—with the guidance on biosafety and personal protective equipment they need to keep working and stay safe while delivering ART to clients in their homes and communities during the pandemic.

“In this emergency due to COVID-19, alerTAR has become more useful and effective,” says Ibe Isael Martir, a community liaison at Hospital Saldaña in El Salvador. “Since March 19, 41 patients have been treated and retrieved their ART and all of them stated that it was the message on their cell phone that reminded them of their appointment and motivated them to come for their medication despite the state of emergency and closure of the hospital for outpatient services. All of them received a two-month supply of medication to last for March and April and a new appointment was scheduled. All have expressed appreciation for the quality care they’ve received in this time of global crisis.”

The HIV Care and Treatment Project is led by IntraHealth International with funding from the United States Agency for International Development. alerTAR uses Dimagi’s CommCare mobile data collection platform.

Resources

COVID-19 Response Brief

El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Panama HIV & AIDS COVID-19 Digital Health Global health security Health Workforce & Systems Community Health Workers USAID HIV Care and Treatment Project

In One Guatemalan Hospital, Peer Support Groups Boost Quality of Life for People Living with HIV

cbishopp — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 18:46:54 +0000

In One Guatemalan Hospital, Peer Support Groups Boost Quality of Life for People Living with HIV cbishopp November 21, 2019

November 21, 2019

Groups meet each month to learn from each other’s experiences and encourage one another to strive for better lives.

For people living with HIV in Malacatán, Guatemala, adhering to the required treatment regimen isn't always easy. The area’s economy is highly mobile due to its proximity to the Mexican border, and HIV is stigmatized, making it difficult to be open about one’s status and access care.

But at one area hospital, a new peer support group for patients initiating or restarting treatment makes committing to better health a collaborative process.

Since February 2019, a group of patients have been meeting each month to learn from each other’s experiences managing the virus and to encourage one another to strive for a better quality of life. The group is made up of individuals at risk of not following their treatment regimens, having high viral loads, or just starting treatment. Surrounded by a support system including other people living with HIV, as well as an adherence promoter, nutritionist, and other members of the project’s multidisciplinary team, patients hold each other accountable and build self-esteem. And when a group member misses a meeting, the others follow up and encourage their return.

"We have emerged from depression."

“In each session we attend, we feel confident to talk about the problems we have because we are sharing with people who have the same problems as us,” said one couple. “We have emerged from depression.”

Peer support groups are part of a person-centered strategy implemented by IntraHealth International through its USAID-funded HIV Care and Treatment Project. This strategy aims to help people living with HIV adopt a healthy lifestyle and stick to their treatment regimen in order to reduce their viral load and boost their quality of life.

Monthly face time with other patients as well as project and clinical staff builds trust and encourages people to take advantage of all the resources available to them.

"It’s not just seeing the doctor and picking up your treatment,” says nutritionist Marixa Orozco. "Patients interact with the staff in charge of each area. And then they are willing to see the psychologist or the social worker, because they already know who they are and feel comfortable.”

By the end of August, which marked six months of antiretroviral treatment (ART), patients underwent CD4 count and viral load testing. These are routine procedures that measure how many CD4 cells, a type of white blood cell, and amount of HIV are in the blood and provide important information to health workers about patients’ immune systems, the virus’ progression in their bodies, and how they and the virus are responding to ART.

And the results were impressive: 90% of patients had fewer than 1,000 copies of the HIV virus, indicating that the virus was not progressing and that their treatment plans were effectively controlling it.

An individual with untreated HIV would have a low CD4 count and a high viral load. With these results, patients were seen as “stable” and thus able to shift to collecting medicine every two months, meaning fewer disruptions to their work schedules and less money spent on transportation to and from the clinic.

The bond of a shared experience directly impacts the health outcomes of group members, who include patients living with comorbidities like tuberculosis.

“I feel privileged receiving attention in the clinic and for the support that the whole team has given us,” one group member says. “I want to continue being part of the peer support group so that the sadness is forgotten and I am able to live longer."

By Dora García

Guatemala Field Coordinator, HIV Care and Treatment Project

By Claudia Guzmán

Graphic Design and Communications, HIV Care and Treatment Project

USAID HIV Care and Treatment Project HIV & AIDS Guatemala

Photo by Anna Watts for IntraHealth International.

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New Project Will Bring High-Quality HIV Services to the People Who Need Them Most in Five Central American Countries

intrahealth — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 22:19:44 +0000

New Project Will Bring High-Quality HIV Services to the People Who Need Them Most in Five Central American Countries intrahealth August 07, 2018 August 07, 2018

IntraHealth International will expand its HIV prevention, care, and treatment efforts in Central America with a new $15 million award from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Strengthening Care and Treatment Cascade Project will help El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama improve the quality and reach of their HIV services and allocate more resources where they are most needed.

While the overall HIV prevalence is low in these countries, the epidemic is concentrated among key groups, including men who have sex with men, transgender women, and female sex workers. Despite these realities, health policy and practice have continued to prioritize testing and treatment for the general population and pregnant women over these groups.

IntraHealth and our partners will focus on reaching these clients with high-quality, stigma-free services and work together to enroll and retain as many people living with HIV as possible on treatment. The project will also prioritize identifying and treating common HIV comorbidities, including tuberculosis.

Every client—regardless of background, gender, or status—must be able to expect and receive respectful, high-quality health services, without bias.

All five countries support the UNAIDS 90-90-90 goals (90% of HIV-positive people knowing their status, 90% of people diagnosed with HIV on antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 90% of clients on ART achieving viral load suppression by 2020). Among the project countries, 64% of people estimated to be living with HIV have been diagnosed. However, only an estimated 37% who know their status are on ART (22%-53%), and less than 25% of those on treatment have achieved viral suppression.

“We need sustainable approaches to truly end the HIV epidemic in Central America, including improving quality and reducing stigma and discrimination,” says Yadira Villasenor, IntraHealth’s chief of party and regional director. “Every client—regardless of background, gender, or status—must be able to expect and receive respectful, high-quality health services, without bias. We must work at all levels of the health sector and in our communities to achieve this.”

The project will:

Help health facilities, partners, and community-level organizations that work with key populations to set, prioritize, and reach their objectives, and sustain interventions
Address stigma, gender discrimination, and other forms of discrimination, as well as gender-based violence
Retain people living with HIV in care by addressing barriers to treatment adherence
Promote evidence-based decision-making by ensuring that complete, timely, and useful information is available to people living with HIV and health workers.

IntraHealth will collaborate with the ministries of health, social security institutes, and National AIDS Programs in each country to address HIV-related policies, set priorities, and provide services. IntraHealth’s local partners include Asociación de Salud Integral, Colectivo Amigos Contra El Sida, and Entre Amigos. This work extends and builds on the successes of IntraHealth’s USAID Central America Capacity Plus (CAMPLUS) Project.

El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama HIV & AIDS USAID HIV Care and Treatment Project

USAID HIV Care and Treatment Project

Mental Health Services Help Health Workers Improve HIV Services in Central America

Meet Three Health Workers In Central America Who Won't Let COVID-19 Stand In the Way of HIV Care

Home visits in Guatemala

Medicine delivery in El Salvador

Quelling clients’ fears Panama

3 Ways Health Workers in Central America Are Delivering HIV Care during a Pandemic

alerTAR in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama​

Enhanced adherence counseling in Nicaragua

Home visits in Panama

In Central America, Health Workers Keep HIV Services Available despite Dual Disasters

When HIV clients move, the services must follow

mHealth Tool Is Keeping Central American Clients Connected to HIV Care amid COVID-19 Shutdowns

Resources

COVID-19 Response Brief

In One Guatemalan Hospital, Peer Support Groups Boost Quality of Life for People Living with HIV

New Project Will Bring High-Quality HIV Services to the People Who Need Them Most in Five Central American Countries

alerTAR in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama