Clemency Uganda - HIV Control

A trainee carries out an HIV/AIDS test on a Clemency Uganda staff Mutesi Rose shortly after an HIV/AIDS testing youth workshop.

Children affected by HIV/AIDS often live in households undergoing dramatic changes, including intensified poverty; increased responsibilities placed on young members of the family; poor parental health that may increase emotional or physical neglect; stigma and discrimination from friends, community members, or extended family; or parental death. These changes often result in reduced household capacity to meet children’s basic needs. Orphaned children may undergo a transition to a new household or, in relatively few cases, be forced to head their own households. Orphans are more likely to live in households with higher dependency ratios; may experience property dispossession; often miss out on opportunities for education; may live in households experiencing food insecurity; and often experience decreased emotional and psychological well being due to such dramatic life changes, challenges, and losses.

Our HIV/AIDS control program mainly focuses on a prevention strategy though provision of Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT), home based care and support, care for orphaned and vulnerable children in addition to HIV/AIDS awareness-raising, networking and advocacy.

Clemency Uganda provides both facility and community based VCT coupled with psycho-social support, pre-test and post-test counseling, risk reduction and prevention with positives counseling. Other supportive aspects of HIV/AIDS include provision of cotrimoxazole prophylaxis and referral for PMTCT and Medical Male circumcision for HIV prevention. This service is effective in providing effective information about HIV/AIDS, STD, and transmission treatment and ensures appropriate referrals and linkage to services. This has contributed to the reduction in the spread of HIV in our community. VCT is available and accessible to individuals, couples, children and other family members free of charge. This takes place at our counseling centre at DAG Clinic in Bugembe and in clients’ homes. Each client is attached to a counselor who supports the family through a long term relationship of mutual trust, respect and confidentiality. Counseling is always extended to members of the clients’ family in order to promote household support systems, disclosure and reduction of stigma for clients to be living testimonies of positive living to encourage those who may still be in fear of knowing their HIV status.

Home based AIDS care is provided to bedridden parents and guardians as and when necessary. During home visits relatives/home caregivers are provided with information by our trained Health Care Volunteers (HCVs). The home caregivers have adequate basic knowledge to be able to provide basic home-based nursing, emergency care, and provision of cotrimoxazole for opportunistic infection prevention. The HCVs offer support to care-givers through provision of information and education on simple nursing care and first aid and referrals to service centers.

This program focuses on sharing the heavy load on the shoulders of HIV-infected clients and widowed mothers to fend for and care for their children. It comprises of services that seek to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on clients in the areas of child support, in addition to other discrete projects depending on available resources and needs.

Clemency Uganda runs a vigorous anti HIV/AIDS campaign aimed at achieving behavior change and stigma reduction through information education, communication and social marketing among the youth through community outreaches, community drives, capacity building training's and peer to peer support through youth support groups. Clemency Uganda formed a youth peer group called Mercy Club where children between the ages of 9-16 get to interact with their peers on matters related to HIV/AIDS and other adolescent issues like sexuality under the guidance of a youth counselor.

We view HIV/AIDS as a multi-pronged problem that calls for concerted effort from all sectors of life. Through advocacy at local, national and international levels, Clemency Uganda highlights issues in our community thereby increasing awareness in both the internal and external environment influencing the attitudes of all those in position to influence or cause change. As a result many stakeholders contribute positively towards the well being of the infected and affected, and they keep the pejorative effects of the scourge, such as stigmatization to a minimum.

Through advocacy we sensitize people with AIDS and the society as a whole to understand the rights and responsibilities of the infected. This is done through:

* Collaboration especially with developmental and AIDS service NGO's, as well as Community Based Organizations that have similar interests.

* Public relations with policy makers and influential national and community leaders.