WOLA
NANI- ESPOIR POUR LES TOWNSHIPS
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News Letter - May 2004
SOUTH
AFRICA
A specific context.
In September 2003, the approach and priorities with respect to AIDS have
totally changed in South Africa, as a result of the government’s
ambitious national plan for therapies.
Even though it will take time before the Global Fund really arrives, and
the therapies really get provided nationwide to the millions of people
in need, Dessine l’Espoir has adapted its action to this new situation.
Dessine
l’Espoir focussed on financing actions on a community level, in
order to accompany the national plan.
As a recognition of the role played by Wola Nani women from the light
bulb project, in raising the money that will be redistributed, they will
be kept as a central position of the action plan that ”Dessine l’Espoir”
will set up in South Africa, even if this action will have a positive
effect on their entourage and extended family. Local associative network
LOCAL ASSOCIATIVE NETWORK
Wola Nani is
an association consisting of 250 HIV+ clients who have been referred by
day hospital and antenatal clinics for psychological support and resources
to support their family.
As no medical approach is undertaken within the association, it is now
necessary to help these women better understand and follow up their viral
status as well as stick to their treatment.
The Desmond Tutu HIV Centre
The
Desmond Tutu HIV Centre has been developing an antiretroviral program
since late 2002 for HIV-positive people from the Nyanga district of Cape
Town, which consists of 300000 people. A provincially employed medical
doctor and nursing sister have been trained to manage the antiretroviral
programme at the clinic.
They are supported by a team of 14 counsellors.
Counsellors are community members providing individual care at the clinic
and at the patient’s home. They co-ordinate weekly treatment readiness
workshops and manage education sessions for patients taking Anti-retroviral
treatments. Currently the project has sufficient funding for a total of
350 patients.
ACTION
PLAN
1 - Get the best analysis of the viral status of Wola Nani women,
and make sure they are all followed by a doctor regularly.
In conjunction with the clinic, Wola Nani will offer to follow up on those
registered clients who need to attend, especially those who have lapsed
in their attendance to the clinic. This would enable the clinic to obtain
up to date information on their clinical stage and CD4 status. Wola Nani
agrees to give Dessine l’Espoir a summary of those clients whose
progress will be tracked, detailing where they live and their medical
status.
2 - Select of 10 suitable clients to be trained as health counsellors
on accredited training programmes Selection will be organized
both on a regional basis in order to cover as wide an area as possible,
and on psychological basis, targeting woman who have the charisma, physical
and emotional strength to be involved in such an action and who would
be ready to follow the training. This will be an income generating activity
for the women.
3 - Select training partners and start training.
Training
programmes will be agreed with the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre for the Nyanga
district trainees, and with TAC (Treatment Action Campaign), Life Line
& Attic for the other districts trainees. Once the candidates have
been approved by these partners, counsellors will then follow an intensive
2 weeks-training program which will teach them everything they need to
know about the medicine, side effects, and opportunistic diseases. They
will be given a “Mentor” from the training partners, who will
follow them on the long run.
4- Organise teams
Each counsellor will be given a number of clients to visit by Wola Nani,
in connection with the clinic he will depend on. Wola Nani will assist
the health counsellors in the initial visit. Thereafter, each counsellor
will be responsible for organising his own planning and reporting it to
his mentor, about, for exemple, cases of emergency, or problems within
households that might need assistance.
5-
Set up a support group in Mfuleni
Mfuleni is a newly developed Township far away from the city where many
people have been re-located from Khayelitcha (the largest township of
the Cape Province). Mfuleni lacks support groups and close medical facilities.
Dessine l’Espoir will participating in the opening of a secure,
lockable facility for the Wola Nani women living there.
Women trained in this Mfuleni sector would then be able to organize their
support groups locally, as they are too far away to attend any Khayelitsha
meeting at present.
6 - Group taxi & visits to MSF for the Mfuleni women
MSF acknowledge the importance of opening this new venue in Mfuleni where
many of their patients now live. distance is in fact a major cause for
braking adherence. Therefore they agreed on the possibility of grouping
he medical visits for the Mfuleni women to the MSF center on a same day,
on a monthly basis, so that a grouped taxi could be organised.
7- Therapy support.
More
than 1000 patients are having therapy in Khayelitcha in the 3 MSF treatment
centers. Other townships such as Nyanga do not have such access to ARV
treatments. Study of women viral status will arise cases in the Nyanga
district where starting a therapy without delay will be needed.For this
purpose, Dessine l’Espoir will open 20 lines of treatments at the
Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, in anticipation of the government funding.
But this support will not be
limited to Wola Nani women.
Selection will be organized according to the criteria followed by the
Nyanga clinic, and responsibility of this choice will be left to the doctors.
8 - Monthly meetings
A monthly meeting will be organized with the women involved in
the light bulb project, the Mfulini group, and the health counsellors
themselves at the Wola Nani workshop in Observatory, with a speaker from
an external NGO who’s message could be useful for the women. A report
will be done after each monthly meeting, especially if it raises valuable
information for future actions.
Budget
The budget for this action for one year was 47 200 euros, 21 500 euros
allocated to Wola Nani and 25 700 euros to the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre.
