3. HIV/AIDS AND
HEALTHCARE
Health
Uganda HIV/AIDS Project
In the early 1990s Africa Foundation, in partnership with
several local partners, began an active education programme
for the prevention of HIV/AIDS and infection rates have
dropped overall in the country. Africa Foundation fully
understands the Uganda AIDS/HIV threat facing our children
and we are actively working to prevent the spread of the
disease in our entire programme. Africa Foundation offers
health care and support services to our children whose
lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS.
Africa Foundation implements three major objectives
in the fight against HIV/AIDS:
1) Our Focus on prevention: Our focus
and approaches is on preventing HIV/AIDS transmission.
We do put a lot of effort into ensuring our best possible
care and support to our children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
Our programmes are designed at actively involving our
children and other adolescents. We always ensure that
our children’s views and thoughts are clearly
heard, and acted upon, this approach has proved to be
such an effective programme in helping to identifying,
developing and promoting our approaches which have and
continue to make a real life difference. Based on successes
already achieved it is our intention to call upon any
interested partners to join us and help ensure that
all our prevention and care programmes, continue to
be as effective as possible in supporting our children
who are at risk of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
2) Local Community involvement: At
Africa Foundation we strongly believe that the involvement
of our children themselves lies at the heart of our
major change in the course of the Aids pandemic. We
encourage active involvement of children, adolescents
and our local population in the design and implementation
of all our prevention programmes through encouraging
safe local practices that ensure our children are not
prey to exploitative and abusive practices and this
has proved to be very crucial to our long-term success.
3) Children’s Rights: Africa
Foundation puts the protection of the rights of the
child at the heart of our HIV/AIDS programmes through
such good practices, we are able to continue to promote
access to basic services and encourage the active participation
of our children affected by the Aids pandemic which
have been very crucial in both our prevention and care
programmes. Through your support we are able to provide
our children with a better health care service, advice
and social support, to improve their survival, development
and hence providing them with an adequate standard of
living through our focussed, effective services with
the rights of the child and community responsibility
at the centre of our work through engaging, educating
our children and the community as the key to controlling
the disease. In doing so it has helped protect their
sexual and reproductive health and reduces their vulnerability
to HIV/AIDS through our awareness and training strategies.
However, in the rural areas where electricity is not
available, and there are inadequate communications and
lack of educational programmes, AIDS is still a major
problem.
The problem is exacerbated by poverty, illiteracy,
weak and inadequate education, inadequate, and in many
villages, total lack of public health systems, and the
low social status of women and children.
Africa Foundation provides programmes in the highest
at risk areas in education and prevention of AIDS. Our
team of Community health care workers use the local
culture health beliefs and communication strategies
that are culturally familiar to the local residents
to conduct these programmes.
Africa Foundation community programmes include:
- Education programmes
for women and young children to promote the prevention
of HIV infection.
- Ensure that young men are informed
of their potential role and responsibility in transmitting
HIV.
- Promote access to high quality
testing and counselling for pregnant mothers but also
Testing is strongly encouraged for all men and women.
- Ensure that care and support
services for people living with HIV and their families
are available and accessible over the long term.
All of Africa Foundation’s programmes, seminars
and workshops are conducted by our health care workers;
in our village centres and other gathering places
away from the town centres.
Africa Foundation believes Knowledge and information
is the key to reducing AIDS infections. This includes
using and distributing the knowledge and experience
of everyone involved in improving the response to the
Aids epidemic.
To this end Africa Foundation is expanding its programmes
to reach as many people as possible with life saving
information.
MOBILE HIV/AIDS HOME CARE PROGRAMME
The mobile clinics offer medical care and counselling
to people living with HIV and AIDS. The Clinics are
open fives times a week in various rural communities.
This whole programme is coupled with an AIDS education
and prevention projects. This programme is on hold due
to lack of funds, but having implemented this programmes
for the past ten years, with a strong work force of
over 50 trained community volunteers, it is a programme
we are very keen to get back up and running. We strongly
believe that it is time we re-implemented the Mobile
AIDS care programme once funds are secured.
Please
help us in this life saving mission by making a donation.
|
