Ensuring that children with HIV can grow into healthy adults requires that they have lifelong access to comprehensive health services into adulthood.
A crucial component of our work at SPAF is ensuring children can transition into lifelong HIV care. As they age into adulthood, we strive to ensure they receive integrated and comprehensive health services, as well as psychosocial support, enabling them to live long, healthy lives.
Integrated Health Services for women
A comprehensive health delivery model, offering integrated services for routine health care along with care and treatment of both chronic and infectious diseases, makes all health services more accessible to an individual, especially one traveling far with little transport money to receive such services. In many of our supported sites, SPAF supports TB identification and treatment integration, syphilis screening and treatment, cervical cancer screening and treatment, family planning and reproductive health integration, and nutritional services for our adult clients.
Learn more about creating a comprehensive approach to women’s health.
The Importance of Male Involvement
Men are more likely to be newly infected, more likely to suffer from advanced HIV disease, and less likely to engage in health services. On top of this, and in many of SPAF’s supported countries, men tend to make health care decisions for their families. Reaching men with testing, treatment, and ongoing care is vital to ensure epidemic control. SPAF has launched male clinic models in several supported settings. This health service delivery platform, informed by men, is working to drive men in for comprehensive health care.
Learn more about SPAF’s male clinic model.
Expansion of HIV Testing
SPAF offers HIV testing and linkage to care and treatment across supported countries. We use integrated health service delivery, creating access to HIV testing through antenatal care, labor and delivery, and men’s clinic settings, along with index case finding. We also offer mobile testing, to make available HIV identification and linkage to treatment in remote locations (including testing at city bus stops, in marketplace testing tents, and during door-to-door home visits) as well as broad community mobilization—the latter by reaching out to local media sources to create greater demand for HIV testing. As mentioned above, men are trailing women in HIV identification. Recognizing this discrepancy, SPAF has scaled up use of partner notifications services, index case finding, workplace testing approaches, and male-friendly clinic settings.
Access to the Most Effective Treatment Regimens
We work continuously with ministries of health, local partners, and supported clinicians to implement World Health Organization (WHO) treatment guidelines through development of protocols and tools, training of health staff, and direct mentorship of staff and managers at supported sites to provide treatment to eligible clients in adherence to recent globally recommended guidelines. We also equip supported facilities with the diagnostic and medical supplies needed to ensure that all those living with HIV have immediate access to the most effective treatment options.
Access to the Most Effective Treatment Regimens
We work continuously with ministries of health, local partners, and supported clinicians to implement World Health Organization (WHO) treatment guidelines through development of protocols and tools, training of health staff, and direct mentorship of staff and managers at supported sites to provide treatment to eligible clients in adherence to recent globally recommended guidelines. We also equip supported facilities with the diagnostic and medical supplies needed to ensure that all those living with HIV have immediate access to the most effective treatment options.
Improved Retention and Adherence
Long-term adherence to lifesaving ART is a critical challenge to individuals and health systems. SPAF trains and mentors health workers and counselors to provide ongoing adherence support to clients and affected families. Special emphasis is placed on training and supporting non-medical facilities and community health workers in follow-up of clients who have missed services or struggled to access and maintain ART. SPAF also ensures that facilities link clients to relevant clinical, social, and community-based services such as home-based, palliative, and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission services, as well as nutrition clinics, to improve retention and adherence.