Hiv aids counselling manual

INTRODUCTION
As the numbers of infected persons continue to soar in Zimbabwe, the demand for
counselling services has far out stretched the available resources. As a result, the
need for a crash programme to equip as many people as possible with counselling
skills has never been so crucial. Yet at the same time, the cost of training at
established institutions such as CONNECT continues to rise. With this state of affairs,
NACP has no choice but to utilise the few CONNECT graduates to train other staff at
their institutions.
The evaluation of the systemic counselling training programme at CONNECT revealed
that most of the graduates feel confident not only to counsel but also to train others
provided training materials and time are made available. It is hoped that the availability
of this guide to trainers will make it possible for NACP to achieve their initial goal of
increasing the number of HIV/AIDS counsellors at all health institutions.
The guide covers the essential information for a training programme in basic
counselling. However, trainers are encouraged to look for other relevant sources to
enhance training. Moreover, users of the guide should have previous training in basic
counselling skills.
The first chapter deals with basic facts about HIV/AIDS, which every counsellor should
know. The next chapters cover all issues related to counselling. The concluding
chapter gives an overview of cultural, ethical and legal issues in counselling.
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