Online Reporter
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, [email protected]
THE Community Art Monitoring Programme (CAMP), now running in Vungu District, Midlands Province, is transforming HIV and Aids interventions by putting patients at the centre of monitoring and decision-making.
Implemented by the National Aids Council (NAC) in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the initiative is improving the roll-out of opportunistic infections (OI) and antiretroviral therapy (ART) programmes while giving people living with HIV a meaningful role in shaping interventions.
Under CAMP, monitors are drawn from within the community — including people already on ART or OI treatment — and tasked with tracking service delivery in health facilities, convening peer education sessions, and offering counselling and support.
Speaking after a CAMP session at Chinamasa Clinic in Ward 10, Ms Kudzai Chitikodze of Masvore Village said the initiative has given patients a sense of ownership.
“As a mentor, one of my responsibilities is to visit Chinamasa Clinic, where I engage my peers from the community who are also on ART treatment to find out the challenges they are facing.
“This is a great initiative, unlike in the past, where initiatives for us were just rolled out without our input. Now we can have a say and we feel that we are now part of HIV related programming,” she said.
Another monitor, Ms Tendai Nhubu from Zvenanga Village said she also convenes support group meetings in her community. She said during the sessions, she urges her peers to adhere to their ART treatment and also offers counselling services.
Ms Nhubu said this platform has helped to create a strong support base for HIV patients. She said she has also benefited from the programme as a mentor. They also discuss various health issues.
Ms Nhubu said during community meetings, she is given a platform to educate people on HIV related issues and encourages them to get tested.
Vungu District Aids co-ordinator Ms Sukoluhle Sibanda said the programme is being implemented under the treatment, care and support initiative.
She said it seeks to ensure meaningful involvement of people living with HIV in HIV related programming and interventions.
Ms Sibanda said under the programme, the monitors take a leading role while NAC and the Ministry of Health and Child Care play an oversight role.
“Under the programme, a team of people who are taking OI and ART medicine are mobilised and then the monitoring team visits specific health facilities where they hold sessions with their peers on ART,” she said.
“One responsibility of the monitoring team is to administer questionnaires to their peers on how the OI and ART programme is being implemented at their health facility to find out if patients are receiving the medication and the challenges they are facing,” she said.
Ms Sibanda said the monitors also engage health care workers on the implementation of the OI and ART programme to capture progress and challenges.
She said a report is then compiled by the monitors and it is submitted to the Ministry of Health and Child Care for enhanced administration of the OI and ART programme.
Ms Sibanda said meaningful involvement of OI and ART patients in the HIV programme is crucial in the successful implementation of the programme.
Vungu District has an HIV prevalence rate of 11,31 percent for ages 15 to 49. HIV hotspot areas in the district include mining areas, rural service centres near mining areas and hard-to-reach resettlement areas.
Major economic activities in the district are mining, farming, cross-border trading, vending and fishing. —@DubeMatutu
