The study sought to understand the factors that facilitate women to adhere to treatment and return to health facilities for routine care from their own perspective. The researchers focused on Malawi, Uganda and Zambia, early adopters of the global guidance to provide lifelong treatment for pregnant ...women living with HIV (Option B+) and spoke to women living with HIV, healthcare workers and programme managers to discover which factors and practices show promise in supporting women to initiate and remain in care.
This study found that women living with HIV who access these services to prevent vertical transmission have a strong sense and understanding of what factors support their retention and how health facilities, the wider community and their friends and relations can best support them. This report shares their words to describe how it feels to walk in their shoes on the path of life long treatment.
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Journal of the International AIDS Society 2017, 20(Suppl 4):21644
National AIDS Programme in Myanmar has made significant progress in scaling up antiretroviral treatment (ART) services and recognizes the importance of differentiated care for people living with HIV. Indeed, long centred around t...he hospital and reliant on physicians, the country's HIV response is undergoing a process of successful decentralization with HIV care increasingly being integrated into other health services as part of a systematic effort to expand access to HIV treatment. This study describes implementation of differentiated care in Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)‐supported programmes and reports its outcomes.
https://doi.org/10.7448/IAS.20.5.21644
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From 2000 to 2010, Rwanda implemented comprehensive health sector reforms to strengthen the public health system, with the aim of reducing maternal and newborn deaths in line with Millennium Development Goal 5, among many other improvements in national health. Based on a systematic review of the lit...erature, national policy documents and three Demographic & Health Surveys (2000, 2005 and 2010), this paper describes the reforms and the policies they were based on, and provides data on the extent of Rwanda’s progress in expanding the coverage of four key women’s health services. Progress took place in 2000–2005 and became more rapid after 2006, mostly in rural areas, when the national facility-based childbirth policy, performance-based financing, and community-based health insurance were scaled up. Between 2006 and 2010, the following increases in coverage took place as compared to 2000–2005, particularly in rural areas, where most poor women live: births with skilled attendance (77% increase vs. 26%), institutional delivery (146% increase vs. 8%), and contraceptive prevalence (351% increase vs. 150%). The primary factors in these improvements were increases in the health workforce and their skills, performance-based financing, community-based health insurance, and better leadership and governance. Further research is needed to determine the impact of these changes on health outcomes in women and children.
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14 January 2021
This practical guide can be used to help countries monitor and analyse the impact of COVID-19 on essential health services to inform planning and decision-making. It provides practical recommendations on how to use key performance indicators to analyse changes in access to and deliv...ery of essential health services within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; how to visualize and interpret these data; and how to use the findings to guide modifications for safe delivery of services and transitioning towards restoration and recovery. The guide focuses on existing indicators and data that are captured in routine reporting systems and how they can be used by national and subnational authorities to understand specific contexts, challenges and bottlenecks. This guide supports Maintaining essential health services: operational guidance for the COVID-19 context, which provides an integrated framework to guide countries in their efforts to reorganize, adapt and maintain safe delivery of high-priority essential health services within the context of the pandemic.
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Validation of elimination of mother-to-child transmission, or vertical transmission, of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B virus (HBV), is an attestation that a country has successfully met standard criteria for elimination, or for being at 1 of the 3 levels of achievement on the ‘Path to Elimination... while delivering quality services for women, girls and their children, through the life-course, respecting human rights and ensuring gender equality and community engagement.
This document, the third version, adds on EMTCT of hepatitis B virus (HBV), bringing together a package of interventions and metrics to support integrated management and monitoring of vertical transmission across a wide range of epidemiological and programmatic contexts.
This document, the third version, adds on EMTCT of hepatitis B virus (HBV), bringing together a package of interventions and metrics to support integrated management and monitoring of vertical transmission across a wide range of epidemiological and programmatic contexts.
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UNAIDS Series: Engaging uniformed services in the fight against AIDS - Case Study 1
Fighting AIDS
Information Note
Advice for countries using or planning
to introduce dual HIV/syphilis RDT in antenatal services and other testing sites.
WHO/RHR/17.01
TB heroes
Hello, my name is Nurse X
My job is to promote integrated HIV and TB prevention, care, treatment and support. This ensures that we, and my team of health care service providers treat everyone who is living with HIV and TB to have all the antiretroviral therapy (ART) and HIV care services... are provided with TB diagnosis and treatment at one facility. Services that we provide include * Infection control education * TB screening and diagnosis * HIV testing * Treatment for those who require it * Adherence support
Accessed November 2017
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The WHO document "Integrating the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases in HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and sexual and reproductive health programmes: implementation guidance" provides a framework for integrating noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) into existing health programs for HIV/AIDS, tub...erculosis (TB), and sexual and reproductive health (SRH). It emphasizes the importance of a people-centered approach to enhance healthcare accessibility and efficiency, especially in low-resource settings. The document outlines strategies for strengthening policy, financing, capacity building, and health system infrastructure. It offers actionable steps, tools, and case studies to support countries in reducing the burden of NCDs through integrated, holistic care within primary health services.
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The Extending Service Delivery (ESD) project has developed Healthy Timing and Spacing of
Pregnancy: A Trainer’s Reference Guide as a resource for trainers in developing in-service training
for facility-based healthcare providers and community health workers (chws) who already have
some basic ex...perience with and understanding of FP/RH. This is not a training manual, but a
reference guide which can be used and adapted by trainers based on whether or not trainees are facilitybased
or community-based.
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Due to the anticipated significant rise in VL testing occasioned by Ghana’s adaptation of 2016 ART guidelines, it has become necessary to develop this VL scale-up and operational plan to assure complete client access to laboratory monitoring towards the achievement of the third 90 of the HIV care ...cascade. The plan will enhance VL testing, monitoring whilst improving the clinical and laboratory interface for improved client care.
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For children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV (OVC)
Sinopsis de Política
Julio del 2017
Case Study on Improving HIV Testing and Services for Children Orphaned or made Vulnerable by HIV (OVC)
A catalyst for transformation in the United Nations to deliver health results for women, children and adolescents in support of the Sustainable Development Goals
The Rethabile positive parenting activity is being run by 4Children Lesotho with caregivers and teens ages 9 to 24 for the purpose of reducing harsh parenting practices (i.e., violence) and improving positive parenting practices. By promoting adult–child communication around topics such as HIV a...nd AIDS prevention, and exploring models of family-focused violence prevention and support, the program facilitates disclosure of HIV status, promotes greater treatment seeking and adherence, and helps to reduce HIV stigma.lesoth
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Background: Community Health Workers (CHWs) have a positive impact on the provision of community-based
primary health care through screening, treatment, referral, psychosocial support, and accompaniment. With a
broad scope of work, CHW programs must balance the breadth and depth of tasks to mainta...in CHW motivation for
high-quality care delivery. Few studies have described the CHW perspective on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to
enhance their programmatic activities.
Methods: We utilized an exploratory qualitative study design with CHWs employed in the household model in Neno
District, Malawi, to explore their perspectives on intrinsic and extrinsic motivators and dissatisfiers in their work. Data
was collected in 8 focus group discussions with 90 CHWs in October 2018 and March–April 2019 in seven purposively
selected catchment areas. All interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed using Dedoose.
Results: Themes of complex intrinsic and extrinsic factors were generated from the perspectives of the CHWs in
the focus group discussions. Study results indicate that enabling factors are primarily intrinsic factors such as positive
patient outcomes, community respect, and recognition by the formal health care system but can lead to the chal-
lenge of increased scope and workload. Extrinsic factors can provide challenges, including an increased scope and
workload from original expectations, lack of resources to utilize in their work, and rugged geography. However, a posi-
tive work environment through supportive relationships between CHWs and supervisors enables the CHWs.
Conclusion: This study demonstrated enabling factors and challenges for CHW performance from their perspec-
tive within the dual-factor theory. We can mitigate challenges through focused efforts to limit geographical distance,
manage workload, and strengthen CHW support to reinforce their recognition and trust. Such programmatic empha-
sis can focus on enhancing motivational factors found in this study to improve the CHWs’ experience in their role. The
engagement of CHWs, the communities, and the formal health care system is critical to improving the care provided
to the patients and communities, along with building supportive systems to recognize the work done by CHWs for
the primary health care systems.
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There is a crucial need to initiate and sustain fistula programs that increase access and strengthen the capacity of the health care system to provide high quality services for repair and care of women living with female genital fistula. Therefore, it is important to pay particular attention to the ...quality of training, and to proactively determine how this training fits into the health care system. Furthermore, the quality of training is improved by committing adequate resources to ensure competent trainers, able to train and follow-up their trainees. Women with genital fistulae, their families and the community need to have confidence in the health care system. It is therefore necessary to have pro-active discussions about the quality of training with relevant stakeholders. These fistula training guidelines and standards go towards harmonizing the training approach and to improving the quality of training and hence, service delivery.
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The LDHS provides an opportunity to inform policy and provide data for planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of national health programs. It is designed to provide up-to-date information on health indicators including fertility levels, sexual activity, fertility preferences, awaren...ess and use of family
planning methods, breastfeeding practices, nutritional status of children, early childhood and maternal mortality, maternal and child health, and awareness and behaviors regarding HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. The study also incorporated measurements of HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis Cprevalence along with seroprevalence of Ebola virus disease antibodies, the results of which will be included in future addendums. In addition to presenting national estimates, the report provides estimates of key indicators for both rural and urban areas, the country’s 15 counties, and the capital, Monrovia.
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