Connecting HIV positive clients to care

The Mobilising HIV Identification and Treatment programme provides access to health care to those clients in need either through bringing the care to their communities through mobile outreaches or providing transport to care through Text to Treatment. Trained nurses go out via mobile clinics to serve hard to reach communities and villages which have little to no access to healthcare.

Nurses with the mobile clinics provide health services to children, babies and pregnant women and counsel patients for HIV testing and treatment. They also provide antenatal care services, vaccines and nutritional care to encourage mothers and children to attend the clinics, which helps overcome stigma sometimes associated with traveling to health facilities for HIV services. In addition the programme has trained HIV counsellors who sweep the community to identify HIV positive clients and then link them to care.

For patients who are HIV+, and cannot afford the cost of transport to medical facilities where they can access ART, we use Text to Treatment to send money to pay for these individuals to travel to health clinics to receive ART. Money can be sent to patients, guardians and Village Health Workers to cover transport costs of women and children.

Text to Treatment is also implemented to ensure that all pregnant women are bought to appropriate medical facilities for prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) treatment to prevent HIV infection to their babies. For those children who test positive for HIV, Text to Treatment provides access to ongoing treatment.