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6.2 Recommendations
The following are the recommendations to the barriers to proper infection control practices
by volunteer caregivers in HBCO for PLWHA.
Macro level
The government, NGOs, funders and donors need to work together to have effective and
implemented policies to guide the planning, legislation and regulation of HBC programs.
There should be a central administration responsible for allocating adequate and quality
materials for infection control practices. This central administration should also be
responsible for supervising HBCOs and their management including monitoring and
evaluation. It should also be responsible for monitoring and evaluating infection control
practices in HBCOs. There is need for the health sector to establish effective and sufficient
communication among the national, provincial, district and the local level. There is need for
the government to provide basic needs to destitute families such as access to potable water
and housing with suitable living conditions.
There is need for the department of health to provide adequate training with refresher courses
to equip volunteer caregivers with sufficient knowledge and skills on infection control
practices. There is need for the health sector to corroborate with the education and other
related sectors to develop infection control education programmes in HBC and develop some
easy to read and easy to understand materials that can be distributed to family caregivers and
other members of the community. In order to combat the HIV/AIDS related stigma and
discrimination, there is need for the ministry of health and its partners to continue sensitising
the general public using less threatening language regarding HIV/AIDS. There is need also
for the government, NGOs, funders, donors and HBCCs to form a forum and sort
remuneration issues for volunteer caregivers.
Exo and meso level
HBCOs are based in the community to reach out to community members with the aim of
restoring hope in PLWHA improving their quality of life. Findings show that HBCOs depend
mainly on the government, donors and funders for resources. For these HBC programs to run
effectively there is need for all HBC programs to collaborate with local clinics/health care
facilities. They also need to partner with other government agencies. There is need for NGOs,
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