1.1 Home Based Care and Counseling The provision of Home Based Care is based on the principle that care should be provided to people with HIV and AIDS in their home environment, thus avoiding hospital related anxiety, stress and stigma. Home based care is in essence a form of palliative care provided to the chronically ill in their home environment. Though the role out of Anti retroviral therapy has provided tremendous relief to home based care givers challenges such as lack of access to treatment centers and poor nutrition contribute to a high number of defaulters. Thus the dynamics of the home based care principal have shifted with a greater need for treatment literacy and counseling becoming more apparent. Counseling is provided on an ongoing to clients and the public at large through a referral system network between ACT, the Ministry of Health and Social Services (through the public hospitals), the Women and Child Protection Unit and Childline Lifeline. The various types of counseling include trauma counseling, spiritual counseling, pre and post test counseling, family counseling and adherence counseling. Training is a key intervention in the management of HIV. It is vital to remain up to date with the latest developments and information. As such the AIDS Care Trust provides training and workshops to family members of infected individuals, peer educator training within communities and nutrition and treatment literacy to infected individuals and their care givers. This approach also promotes cohesion within communities and a unified response to HIV mitigation thereby alleviating stigma. ACT is currently one of two organizations in the country 4
1. Care and support of PLWHA
t h a t provide home based care training and is the sole distributor of home based care kits in the Khomas region. This is due to strong ties between ACT and the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
1.2 Establishment of support groups Support groups provide people infected and affected with HIV the opportunity to share experiences and strengthen community ties. Several support groups led by the beneficiaries themselves have been established in all the constituencies and regions in which ACT has operations. It is through support groups that the everyday challenges and successes of PLWHA are highlighted. A dialogue is created through which social capital within communities can be enhanced by the communities themselves. The Trust currently has 8 support groups in three regions.
1.3. Income generation activities These include: • Sewing • Embroidery • Beadwork • Craft making Approximately 80% of ACT beneficiaries are women and children. There is a direct correlation between HIV infection and low socio-economic status. A lower socio economic status usually translates into various forms of abuse, intergenerational sex, transactional sex, lack of access to information and education and widening gender disparities. Many of the women sustain their families through informal businesses. The ACT established an Emergency relief fund which in essence is a micro financing scheme awarded to the women to enable them to start up an informal business or enhance an existing one. Currently though, ACT is in the process of establishing an intensive training program with 50 of the women involved in income generating activities to
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