INCREASING ACCESS TO HIV SERVICES THROUGH THE MUNONYE CAMPAIGN
On April 18, a team from UPMB, the lead partner for the Local Service Delivery Activity, Mr. Akom and Miss Jessica, held a supervision visit to Kolonyi HC IV, one of the facilities implementing the Munonye campaign under LSDA. The visit aimed to improve output and create awareness about the ‘MUNONYE’ campaign, which aims at reducing the spread of HIV among children and adolescents by testing them for HIV.
At the facility, the teams were able to interact with the person in charge of the campaign progress being implemented by the Uganda Youth and Adolescent Health Forum (UYAHF) and how the facility is working hand in hand with other CSOs in its implementation.
The ‘MUNONYE’ campaign is also being implemented in other three facilities, including Galimaji HCIII, Namengo HCIII, and Joy Medical HCII. During the visit, the team was excited to see how UYAHF has supported facilities in mobilizing the community for HIV testing through community outreaches with the help of Village Health Teams, who are able to identify areas with children and adolescents.
According to the April data, at Joy Medical Centre, 31 clients (14, 17F) tested for HIV; at Galimaji HCIII, 6 (2, 4F) children and adolescents were all tested; at Kolonyi HCIII, 11 (4, 7F) children and adolescents were all tested; and 21 (9, 12F) children and adolescents were tested at Namengo HCIII. Treatment interruption clients were followed up on and brought back to care. At Joy Medical HCII 2 (1M1F), patients were followed up due to missed appointments and brought back to care, while at Galimaji HCIII 6 (3M, 3F), patients with missed appointments were followed up and brought back to care, and at Namengo HCIII 6 (4M, 2F), patients were followed up and brought back to care. UYAHF, with the support of the village health teams, was able to follow up on clients for bleeding in the community, including 8 at Namengo HC III, 2 at Kolonyi HC IV, and 7 at Galimaji HC III.
Following the meeting, the key action points aimed at improving HIV service provision included: health workers across the four health facilities to draft line lists for index clients who will be tested for HIV, especially children and adolescents; facility charges to encourage the health workers in all the departments to embark on testing children; and health workers at Kolonyi agreed to update the ERM data of clients regularly.
The UYAHF-LDSA coordinator, Edith Kairanya, was able to submit line lists for viral load and index clients to the UPMB team in addition to sharing updated line lists from Kolonyi HCIV, Galimaji HC III, Namengo HC III, and Joy Medical Health Center.