Community Led Monitoring
May 01, 2023
Universal free testing and treatment for HIV/AIDS is available in Ethiopia through a partnership between PEPFAR and the government health system. Community Led Monitoring, CLM, serves to improve the availability, accessibility and delivery of this care through direct observation and provision of feedback at the local level. In September of 2022 ACT received grant funding through PEPFAR to implement CLM at two health centers in our communities. Close existing relationships with the health center staff and extensive experience with supporting individuals on anti-retroviral therapy made us uniquely equipped to implement this program.
To identify gaps in care, four new interns have been trained and deployed at the health centers to conduct surveys with patients receiving care. Focus groups are held with community members and interviews are conducted with health center staff and administrators. Major issues identified include.
- A lack of private rooms for counseling and follow up.
- Patients reporting that charts were lost or missing, leading to delays in care.
- Condoms were not being distributed through the health centers.
ACT staff advocated for changes and assisted with creating solutions resulting in.
- Rearrangement of clinic spaces and changes to group medication dispensing to improve confidentiality and privacy.
- A new system for chart management to improve availability of patient charts during visits.
- Condoms being made available to patients at every clinic interaction.
We celebrate these changes both for our beneficiaries and for the larger community receiving care at these sites!