Lay Health Workers and HIV Care in Rural Lesotho: A Report from the Field

Abstract

Lay health workers (LHWs) are individuals who participate in a variety of health services, even though they have no formal professional training. They have been used in a variety of settings, especially where health care needs outstrip available human resources. Lesotho faces a severe human resource shortage as it attempts to manage its HIV pandemic, with more than 25% of the population infected with HIV. This article reports on a program that provided HIV services in seven rural clinics in Lesotho. LHWs played an important role in the provision of HIV services that ranged from translation, adherence counseling, voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) for HIV and patient triage, to medication distribution and laboratory specimen processing. Training the LHWs was part of the clinic physicians' responsibilities and thus required no additional funding beyond regular clinic operations. This lent sustainability to the training of the LHWs. This paper describes the recruitment, training, activities, and perceptions of the LHW work between June 2006 and December 2008. LHWs participated successfully in the care of thousands of people with HIV in Lesotho and their experience can serve as a model for other countries facing the disease.

The Role of Social Support Among People Living with HIV in Rural Mozambique

“…These findings are consistent with the importance and role of social support for PLHIV in other sub-Saharan Africa countries, including Ethiopia, Lesotho, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. [22][23][24][25][26][27] The majority of social support received by PLHIV in this study was instrumental, followed by emotional and informational/appraisal support. This differs from historical research conducted in the United States in which emotional support was the most common attribute and believed to be the most important.…”

“…APE, who comprise an official cadre within MOH, have been well received; however, their utility could be enhanced with a greater expansion of HIV care and treatment responsibilities as seen in other countries. 23,26,27 Further, the active and open inclusion of PLHIV in this cadre, or as formally recognized peer health workers or educators, would be beneficial to the expansion of ART and needed provision of social support.…”

The epidemiology, pathogenesis, transmission, diagnosis, and management of multidrug-resistant, extensively drug-resistant, and incurable tuberculosis

“…483 Counselling and treatment literacy delivered by trained and paid lay health counsellors or drug-resistant tuberculosis survivors are crucial. 484 Such counselling should be individualised and include ongoing assessments of barriers to adherence and strategies for addressing them, because an individual's ability to adhere can change over time depending on his or her life circumstances. 485 Since many people living with drug-resistant tuberculosis face other pressing health and social concerns-including catastrophic illness-related costs-nutritional, economic, and transportation support are essential for continued adherence to therapy and in keeping with the WHO's goal to eliminate such costs by 2020.…”

Path Analysis on the Factors Affecting People’s Behavior in HIV/AIDS Countermeasure on People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Solo Plus Peer Support Group, Surakarta

“…Personal treatment done by oleh Johnson and Kanna (2004), as well as Joseph et al, (2012) by preparing food, housechores, administering medicines, needs availability assessment, altering communication behaviour towards their partner, domestic violence (Selke et al,, 2010), inheritance, HIV education and counseling. These improve the quality of life, dignity, sense of belonging, and reducing stigma.…”