OUTREACH

The Siyayinqoba Beat It! Outreach project supports the National Strategic Plan goals around HIV/ AIDS by providing Treatment Literacy information to assist in reducing the number of new HIV infections, increasing the numbers of people who test for HIV, extending anti-retroviral coverage, increasing the uptake of the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programmes and increasing the proportion of pregnant women tested for HIV, plus ensuring that people who have an HIV test are also tested for TB, and vice versa.

What then is Treatment Literacy? Treatment Literacy refers to providing accurate information about the science behind the disease and treatment, in this case for HIV and AIDS. Treatment Literacy is based on the belief that if people are more aware of the science behind their disease and how their medication works, then they are more able to understand prevention strategies, how they may reduce their risk of infection, how antiretroviral drugs work and why adherence is critical. Treatment Literacy also promotes advocacy around access to treatment and service delivery.

The Outreach project currently employs 70 Treatment Literacy and Prevention Practitioners (TLPPs) who are working in 34 clinics and 40 schools in 5 provinces - Gauteng, Kwa Zulu Natal, the Eastern and Western Cape and the Free State. Each day, TLPPs present HIV/AIDS treatment literacy information sessions in public clinics, hospitals and schools and assist people in accessing the treatment and the help that they need. TLPPs and trainers make use of the Treatment Literacy DVD Series which covers a broad range of topics relating to HIV and AIDS. Our audiovisuals materials have the advantage of overcoming language and literacy barriers and create a shared experience between the facilitator and the audience.

Open days are held monthly in schools and other public spaces to promote HIV/ AIDS treatment literacy within communities. In 2007, our TLPPs reached approximately 500 000 people with treatment literacy messages and trained approximately 2 500 individuals in 5-day training sessions. Dedicated trainers are available to provide training for any organization wanting to introduce treatment literacy into their work.

The project has done pioneering work in introducing a sophisticated monitoring and evaluation system which records details of each session provided by the TLPPs.

Our vision is to provide a model of community health work in health service delivery which can be taken to scale and rolled out at a national level.

New JHHESA Website

Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa, one of our major funders had just released their new website. Please go to see the site by clicking here - www.jhhesa.org