HIV/AIDS COUNSELING AND TRAINING

This provides information and knowledge in the field of HIV/AIDS, guidance and counseling skills to the trainees and the community at large. We do not have a lab or a pharmacy for providing drugs for our clients therefore, we only provide HIV/AIDS counseling to our clients and the community and we are addressing the issue of positive living every Friday at our centre. Due to the many clients who come for counseling at our centre, we started training HIV/AIDS counselors. Those who qualify for this course must have completed senior four (Ordinary level and above). We are doing this with the help of our partner organization. Those who are HIV/AIDS positive are given drugs by our partner organization to live positively with the virus.

Some of the students in the counseling class

A recent class that has completed the course

Our clients are given skills in HIV/AIDS prevention, computer training and tailoring. The organization also supports their children with some scholastic materials to enable them go to school.These skills help our clients to earn a living,making them avoid over-dependence on the organization's limited resources.

Part of the course content is outlined below;
The impact of HIV/AIDS infection and disease
What is HIV?
What is AIDS?
The effect of HIV on the human body
Modes of transmission
Myths surrounding HIV infection in adults
Progression of HIV infection in adults
HIV antibody testing
Positive living
Care for children with HIV
Information on condom use
Fears and feelings associated with HIV infection and disease
Helping skills
The nervous system
Current attempts in the control of HIV/AIDS epidemic
Common STIs in Uganda
Family planning
Counseling
Home based care
Anti retro viral therapy
VCT/HCT and its role
PMTCT Nutrition in HIV/AIDS
Psycho social issues in HIV and counseling
Crisis counseling and stress management
And among others
There are many challenges in this program and some of these are:
o Lack of HIV/AIDS drugs
o Lack of laboratories where the testing can be done.
o The organization has land but there is no money to develop it so leading to lack of the structures and yet the exiting ones need renovation.
o Lack of enough qualified staff to deliver services needed to our clients
o There is lack of transport in the organization yet some of our clients live very far from the organization and we also need to extend our services to other people in some parts of Uganda and to make the organization perform its work in time.
o The organization has very limited resources yet there is need to motivate the few staff it has.
o The standards of living of our clients are very poor, so there is need to start the idea of income generating activities (IGAs) but there are no funds to implement this. However, the few skills that the organization has provided mostly in the tailoring department have helped a lot.
o Lack of funds to support the clients children.
o And so many others.
However, on the side of the students who have come for the course of HIV/AIDS counselor course have increased to about 14 since this program was started.