Wezi Tjaronda
30 January 2008
Windhoek — Namibia is among three African countries piloting an initiative for HIV prevention and care among people infected with the HIV virus.
Until now, most efforts of HIV prevention programmes have been directed towards preventing HIV-negative people from getting infected.
But, according to Dr Jan Moore, Head of the Global AIDS Programme Prevention Branch, Centre for Disease Control Atlanta, HIV prevention has another component, which focuses on HIV-positive people being prevented from transmitting the virus.
The initiative, involving Namibia, Kenya and Tanzania, is called HIV Prevention in Care and Treatment Settings (PiCTS) and is part of the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Moore was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of representatives of the three countries in Windhoek yesterday.
The meeting aims to have a common understanding of the intervention materials, to review and finalise intervention strategies and training material, to finalise design, methods and procedures and also to resolve logistics for staffing and implementation of evaluations.
She said the project was PEPFAR's special initiative targeting people who are already on treatment and care aimed at encouraging HIV-infected individuals to get their partners tested, to practise safe sex, get treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and get counselling on family planning.
Minister of Health and Social Services Dr Richard Kamwi said prevention intervention among HIV-positive people was an important component of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy although prevention efforts were almost exclusive to HIV-negative individuals.
"It has been realised however that there is need to extend the prevention strategies to include HIV-positive people," Kamwi said.
He called for the speedy rollout of the initiative to other countries, which are equally affected by the pandemic. By end 2007, over 200 000 people were living with HIV in Namibia, said Kamwi.
The programme has so far been developing material on the project that is expected to start later in 2008.
The successful implementation of the project in the three countries will determine the rolling out of the initiative to other countries.
A number of topics are up for discussion at the meeting which ends on Friday, including health care provider intervention, family planning, STIs, lay counsellor intervention, intervention pilot testing, data collection, tracking participants over time and timelines for project development and implementation.
The group will also visit care and treatment clinics.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Era. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
