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Botswana: Home-Based Testing Big Hit- Survey
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
18 April 2008
Posted to the web 21 April 2008
Thato Chwaane
Gaborone
A survey conducted among adults in certain communities on HIV home-based testing shows that it is widely accepted and feasible.
The 2006 survey carried out among adults who have received home based testing by a team from Botswana-Baylor Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence through their community outreach, explored the feelings of the community, and indicated that over 28 percent of the people would never have tested for HIV had the team not visited their homes.
Executive director Professor Gabriel Anabwani said at a briefing yesterday that the centre's community outreach project was targeted at 1,000 orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) in the greater Gaborone from disadvantaged communities. The team in addition targeted adults in the community who were caretakers. He revealed that they wanted to bring services closer to the community. Anabwani said a majority of community members were willing to be tested. They registered more than a thousand and screened close to 700 for HIV. Of those tested, 63 percent had not taken the test before and a whopping 97 percent said they would recommend home based HIV testing to others. Access to these communities was made possible through community based organisations of Bana ba Keletso in Molepolole, Tirisanyo Catholic Commission in Mogoditshane and Gabane Community Home Based Care Society, and brought services to OVC, their siblings and family members. The centre of excellence is the first paediatric facility in Africa that treats and cares for HIV infected and affected children.
They get between 30 and 40 visits from patients per day at the HIV testing and counselling clinic. Anabwani said that the numbers of children testing HIV positive have been declining over time because of the Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme. "Less than five percent have tested positive for HIV," he noted. He emphasised the importance of PMTCT, and that mothers should be persuaded to enrol to prevent transmission to their babies. The centre also caters for adolescents. Anabwani said this group remains their biggest challenge, as they need extra care and support in their difficult transitional times to adulthood. He said currently they have 551 patients between the ages of 10 and 19 years. He said that the number is expected to double within three years. Anabwani said that they want to achieve excellence in patient care.
He said that although they have achieved much, they are not out of the woods yet.
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Meanwhile, the centre will next week host the Baylor International Paediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) network of centres conference. BIPAI network of centres meets twice yearly to share cases, experiences and developments in the field of paediatric HIV/AIDS. This conference to be held at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC) will coincide with the Botswana centre's fifth anniversary. The centre has been operational since 2003.
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