People Living With HIV

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by

COMHESWA
in

HIV is a highly stigmatized and life-long, chronic disease, those who are infected often experience anger, fear and self-stigmatization. Their partners, children, and family frequently face grief, bewilderment and high levels of stress. COMHESWA targets people living with HIV of all ages, sex and status. We focus on psychosocial issues for prevention, care and support.

Approaches and ways of working of these people under this platform include:

  • Psychosocial counselling and support psychosocial counselling, including support of behavior change and treatment adherence, as an essential component of HIV prevention, formal psychological support is offered depending on status, stage of disease, prognosis and other factors.
  • Referral are offered to a comprehensive set of psychosocial interventions (e.g., individual and group counselling, peer support groups, family and couples counselling and adherence support).
  • Economically vulnerable young mothers are identified and facilitated to form economic groups where they serve and lend money for their business and income-generating activities.
  • People with HIV who choose to be sexually active are counselled about safer sex interventions to prevent HIV transmission to others and how to avoid acquisition of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and trained on condoms use.
  • Knowledge on other related diseases like tuberculosis (TB); fungal infections and other STIs provided preventing malaria.
  • STI screening and treatment, HIV/AIDS, and GBV services by increase the number of health workers who have appropriate knowledge and skills in provision of adolescent youth friendly services from health centers.
  • Knowledge on nutrition provided; family planning; preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV; water, sanitation and hygiene.

Moreover:

There are projects that COMHESWA is engaged in intervening social, environmental and health related issues. Here are HIV/AIDS trainings and testing in industries such as construction projects and awareness about non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, BP, cervical and prostate cancer to mention a few.