Overview
Mavambo Orphan Care invests in efforts to improve health of vulnerable children. The organisation supports government programs to improve the quality, availability and use of high impact health services in hard-to-reach and impoverished communities. Health assistance is offered through the following strategies:
1.Support groups for Children and Adolescents Living with HIV (CALHIV) and adults: Support group meetings are held once a month at every facility and are facilitated by the facility staff, the Opportunistic Infection (OI) nurse, and the primary counsellor. The main purpose is to disseminate information related to ART to the children as well as the adults. Adherence issues are addressed, and also as drug refill day. The children are grouped according to their ages and different topics are discussed. The support group meeting help the children to adjust to their status and improve on positive living.
2. Viral load (VL) monitoring: Mavambo staff facilitates and ensures that children and adolescents have had their VL taken when due. VL is taken once a year, when the results show a high load of over 1000 copies per millilitre the child or adolescent is to have some enhanced adherence counselling sessions to check on adherence and other problems and try to solve the issues. Community cadres do the reminders for the CALHIV to have their sample collected when due. The VL results show if adherence is being achieved and indicate treatment failure and lead to further management.
3. Adherence Support (home visits and/virtual ): Messages on adherence are sent to the clients by the focal person regularly. This encourages them to take their medication as prescribed. Some clients have physical visits from Community Health workers (CHW) who assist them on adherence. Home visits are done by the community cadres (each allocated a number to support).
4. Growth Monitoring: Children below 5years have their growth monitored through; weighing on monthly and are vaccinated. The CHW do follow ups in the community and refer those children who are not growing well to the facility for further management. Weighing and vaccination is done at the facilities and the CHW encourage the caregivers to take their children to the facilities. The CHW take some measurements to assess the growth such as MUAC.
5. Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM): Is a sport-based prevention evidence-based model for the 9-14 year old boys. The aim is to have boys who respect girls and women, refrain from drug and alcohol abuse and prevent them from contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI). It is facilitated by trained coaches in and out of school boys. , .
6. Covid-19 Awareness: Messages on the Covid-19 are sent out virtually to all beneficiaries so that they know the ways to protect themselves and their loved ones including availability of vaccines in facilities. This also help them to keep abreast with current trends and information.
7. Enhanced Counselling sessions (EAC): These are sessions carried out with clients who will be having high viral load (VL). This enables the counsellor to get to know possible reasons the VL is remains high. After finding the cause, the client is educated on adherence and also means of overcoming their challenges. After the sessions another sample is collected to check on effectiveness of the sessions and another sample 3 months later after the last EAC session. The sessions can be done virtually or one on one monthly with the facility professional counsellor.
8. Disclosure support: Health workers can work with ALHIV to help them to understand why disclosure is important and to decide to whom they should disclose. Health workers can also help ALHIV prepare for disclosure and can provide them with follow-up support
9. Sister2Sister: Is an evidence-based mentoring program which is trauma-informed youth development program that provides structured mentoring, psych-educational services to vulnerable teenage girls.
10. Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE): ensures that young people have comprehensive information that is scientifically correct, age specific and culturally sensitive and empowers the young to be a productive citizen. Children from schools are benefitting as this was incorporated into the Guidance and Counselling Syllabus and teachers were trained to deliver.
11. Medical Assistance: Transport assistance is provided to beneficiaries undergoing CD4 count, collection of medical results and undergoing further assessments at referral institutions.
12. HIV/AIDS information dissemination: Mavambo Orphan Care offers Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials aiming to reduce the impact of HIV and AIDS. The organisation promotes safe practices and assist families to access counselling, healthcare and education services.
13. Scaling up of Paediatric ART: Mavambo Orphan Care, through support from USAID, is supporting Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) in: Harare, Goromonzi and Chitungwiza, to increase the number of children that access HIV Counselling and Testing Services. The support targets children aged 0-17 years. The organisation partners MoHCC to sensitise community leadership and support on identification of exposed children in the communities. Capacity building of community volunteers is done to ensure that there is a wider reach of the children. Male involvement is encouraged through supporting training for male champions who act as role models to support prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT). The Support include carrying out various activities related to testing and starting children on ART. The health facilities are also encouraged to establish PMTCT mothers’ support groups to ensure retention of these mothers into treatment and care; child play groups to ensure cognitive development through stimulation and support group formation for psychosocial support.
14. Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health Through Sport: ASRH through sport was developed as a tool to complement and reinforce the Government of Zimbabwe’s efforts through the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in the delivery of Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health services to youth in and out of school. ASRH messages are facilitated through sports. Sports represent a non-threatening environment whose principles the youth are readily understand, hence the manual takes these sporting principles and translates them to ordinary life and then into lessons on aspects of sexual and reproductive health.