Integration of HIV/AIDS activities with food and nutrition support in ...

E. Mathys Kirkcaldy
Integrated Programme Strategy 17:
Support for training and other capacity-building activities
for formal and traditional health care providers
Food and related resources can be considered a possible input to support training
programmes for formal facility-based staff and traditional community health workers,
to enable them to contribute effectively to HIV/AIDS prevention efforts. External food
inputs should be phased out when community support is sustainable, and provisions
should be sought from the outset to achieve such sustainability.
What does this integrated programme strategy aim to achieve?
Provision of food or related resources may enable and encourage health care providers to
participate in training activities designed to provide the knowledge and skills they need to
contribute effectively to HIV/AIDS prevention efforts. Refugee health facilities employ staff
from the refugee and host communities with varying skill levels. Traditional health care providers
will have varying degrees of HIV-related knowledge. Short workshops can provide training
on specific issues, such as the use of gloves or the avoidance of high-risk cultural practices.
Longer-term training programmes are a greater investment in developing the skills of selected
key personnel.
How would this integrated programme strategy be implemented?
Institutional collaboration and coordination. Refugees typically use a combination of clinicbased
and traditional health services. Partnership between facility-based staff and traditional
care providers is essential to ensure that all care providers minimize the risk of HIV transmission
in their own practice, and educate their clients on HIV prevention.
Referral form used by Red Cross health staff and traditional healers, Mwange Clinic, Zambia
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