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5.3 Resources available and how infection control practices were carried out by
volunteer caregivers
The macro level
At the macro level, the government through the department of health played an important role
of providing volunteer caregivers with materials. Knowledge and skills on infection control
practices were also provided through workshops. These workshops were not conducted on a
regular basis they were only conducted once when they recruited volunteer caregivers, there
were no refreshers training workshops. Considering the fact that, volunteer caregivers are at
risk of being infected by HIV or T.B when performing their tasks, once off training without
refresher courses are not adequate to equip volunteer caregivers with sufficient knowledge
and skills about infection control practices.
Findings of this study might be an addition to literature in this area of infection control
practices by documenting that insufficient knowledge on infection control practices due to
inadequate training can caused frustration, demoralisation and fear of contagion to most
volunteer caregivers. This implies that the quality of care that is given to the patient could be
reduced and it is possible that the patients could develop new infections which could cause
their health to deteriorate. This can lead to the spread of infections and can also cause death
to most patients. This could also impact the HBCOs negatively in that most volunteer
caregivers could quit their jobs. Additionally, this could discourage some people to volunteer
in Aids care organisations.
When it comes to materials available for infection control practice in HBCOs, most available
literature show that there is insufficient supply of kits or that there is a problem in
replenishing them. For example, a study that was conducted in Zimbabwe on home based
care by Southern African HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination service (SAFAIDS) &
Health and Development Networks (HDN) (2007) showed that there was insufficient supply
of HBC kits and poor replenishment materials such as gloves, bleach, soap and linen savers
for caregivers in home based care organizations. In South Africa, a national survey on home
based care kits was conducted by Mabude et al., (2008) and it revealed that HBC kits were
supplied by the DOH; their supply was inadequate compared to their demand; their
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