Detailed Mechanism Funding and Narrative

Details for Mechanism ID: 14728
Country/Region: Guyana
Year: 2012
Main Partner: Catholic Relief Services
Main Partner Program: NA
Organizational Type: FBO
Funding Agency: HHS/HRSA
Total Funding: $0

The AIDSRelief consortium provides comprehensive HIV care, treatment, and support services and HIV prevention services in Guyana. The care, treatment and support services are provided at three local partner treatment facilities (LPTFs). Two of the LPTFs are faith based hospitals located in Georgetown (Region 4) and the third LPTF is a Ministry of Health Regional Hospital located in Bartica (Region 7). AIDSRelief also supports Hospice Centre, located in Georgetown and provides a variety of prevention services (PMTCT, VCT and abstinence education) through local partners. The AIDSRelief cooperative agreement ends February 29, 2012, however, services will be continued via the same three LPTFs with Davis Memorial Hospital leading the consortium renamed Positively United to Support Humanity (PUSH).The overall goal of the AIDSRelief program is to ensure people living with HIV and AIDS have access to ART and high quality medical care. To achieve this goal, AIDSRelief will aid existing ART service providers in the rapid scale up delivery of quality ART care, expansion of community level services providing quality ART to vulnerable and low income HIV infected people and creation and strengthening of health care treatment networks to support capacity building within communities.In the upcoming year, the AIDSRelief program will focus on the following key issues: the low number of males utilizing VCT services; the disproportionate number of males (41%) enrolled in the care and treatment program compared to females (59%); the number of patients who are being lost to follow up; adherence; and the increasing number adolescence clients.

Funding for Care: Adult Care and Support (HBHC): $0

Facility-based care for HIV-infected adults and their families including prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections (OIS), clinical, psychosocial and adherence readiness assessments and support for retention in care. DMH and SJMP will continue to provide access to onsite laboratory service, pharmaceutical and radiologic services to HIV-infected clients. PUSH-sponsored SSVP will continue to provide access facility-based hospice/step-down care services for HIV-infected adults nationally, at no cost to the client. SSVP provides end of life care to HIV-infected adults with terminal and/or advanced HIV disease in addition to rehabilitation services to clients.

Funding for Care: Pediatric Care and Support (PDCS): $0

Facility-based care for HIV exposed infants and HIV infected children and adolescents including early infant diagnosis, prevention and treatment of IOs, nutritional assessment and support and other services. Additional services include age appropriate support group meetings, adolescent/youth friendly clinics, and linkages to social support networks. PUSH-sponsored SSVP will continue to provide access facility-based hospice/step-down care services for HIV-infected adolescent and children nationally, at no cost to the client or family. SSVP provides end of life care to HIV-infected adolescents with terminal and/or advance HIV disease in addition to rehabilitation services to clients requiring the same.

Funding for Strategic Information (HVSI): $0

The Positively United to Support Humanity (PUSH) Consortium will assume the responsibilities from AIDS Relief and continue support to local partner treatment facilities (LPTFs) in Guyana for activities related to strategic information. PUSH will also continue to promote programmatic and operational decision making and planning based on quality data to assure high quality HIV care and treatment. In FY2012, PUSH will contribute to strengthening the local health system by providing support and supervision to assure on e of that LPTFs use longitudinal medical record systems (electronic and paper based)to improve quality of care, patient management, and their capacity to report to donors and the MoH. PUSH will provide technical assistance through trainings and site visits, as well as continue to work collaboratively with other implementing partners and the MoH to build sustainable monitoring and evaluation (M&E) units and health management information system (HMIS).

Information usage activities at LPTFs is a key factor in addressing and reducing drop-out rates and improving ARV pick-up rates. PUSH will help strengthen LPTFs capacity by coordinating strategic information activities that are integrated into daily clinical care and support quality improvement activities.

Activities include:Data collection, management and reportingCollection and compilation of HIV patient data using the National Registers, longitudinal medical records, and electronic patient management and monitoring systems.Collection and analysis of required indicators requested by LPTFs, CTCT and funding agencies; provide feedback to LPTFs and stakeholdersTA for LPTFs to develop specific plans enabling them to easily review and analyze data (information) to enhance /improve their program, operations and patient care.Data quality improvement workshopsEstablish a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) committee in collaboration with LPTFsPromoting and fostering a culture for data use at local sitesOn- and off-site data usage training workshopsOn- and off-site Training workshops on defining indicators to measure quality and success of the local programsDeveloping custom reports to assess programs and servicesSystem strengthening and sustainabilityRegional workshops to share best practices and information for evidenced-based decision makingNational workshops and collaboration with other implementing partners to strengthen Guyanas M&E System

Funding for Testing: HIV Testing and Counseling (HVCT): $0

PUSH sponsored faith-based care and treatment sites provide access to point of care HIV counseling and testing services with continued scale-up of provider initiated testing and counseling. The scale-up of PICT will ensure the timely detection of HIV, prevention of HIV transmission, and subsequent access to appropriate HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services. PUSH-sponsored will increase PITC by 10% in FY2012-13, with focused emphasis groups at highest risk for HIV infection including partners and children of HIV-infected clients; commercial sex worker and men who have sex with men. PUSH adapted a PICT scale-up check-list, tailoring it to the Guyana context to identify groups at high-risk for HIV infection. The PICT scale-up checklist is intended as a tool for use by hospitals, medical institutions and medical personnel to gauge how PUSHs facilities (hospital, clinic, individual departments) reach, serve, and offer PICT services to clients with unknown HIV status. This will allow PUSH an opportunity to identify institutional strengths and weaknesses, consider ways to address such weaknesses, and later to assess progress toward the scale-up of PICT services. Clients testing HIV positive will be referred into HIV care and treatment programs and prevention information, education and communication techniques will be afforded to high-risk groups identified HIV-negative through PICT.

Funding for Biomedical Prevention: Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (MTCT): $0

Offer of HIV counseling and testing to all pregnant women assessing care at Davis Memorial and St. Joseph Mercy Hospitals. Provisions for a minimum of 264 pregnant women accessing care will be afforded HIV counseling, testing and resulting services. The two faith-based facilities currently provides a full complement of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services including antiretroviral therapy for pregnant HIV-infected pregnant women in accordance to national guidelines. In efforts to attain Guyanas objective of 0% mother-to-child transmission of HIV PUSH-sponsored facilities will collaborate with Ministry of Healths Maternal Child Health unit to implement a sustainable case management/tracking system to intensify support for HIV-infected pregnant women and HIV-exposed infants in ensuring access to HIV care and treatment services throughout the pregnancy and post partum period.

Funding for Treatment: Adult Treatment (HTXS): $0

Facility-based treatment for HIV-infected adults and their families will include support for exams, clinical monitoring, lab-related services, mentoring of medexes in remote locations and adherence support to improve treatment retention.

Funding for Treatment: Pediatric Treatment (PDTX): $0

Support for holistic medical care with access to medical examinations conducted by HIV physician specialist, clinical monitoring including laboratory, radiologic services and adherence support to improve retention in treatment. The faith-based organization includes HIV physician specialist with specialized training in pediatric HIV medicine. Provisions for the management of pediatric HIV antiretroviral treatment will continue to afford the pediatric group of HIV-infected clients high-quality care. The organization will collaborate with MoH to provide high-level technical assistance and training in the area of pediatric HIV medicine.

Subpartners Total: $0
Society of St. Vincent De Paul Care Centre: NA
St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital: NA
Key Issues Identified in Mechanism
Tuberculosis