9.6. Referral to support services

Implementation of a VCT capacity in a context where it was not available previously will lead to early identification of non-symptomatic HIV+ women and HIV affected families. Caring of HIV affected family members include long term components of health care, counselling and social support. Optimal follow-up of the mother 's health should be ensured according to national standards. In high prevalence areas a wide range of care and support activities may already be in place in the community. It will be important for counsellors to be aware of these resources and be able to make appropriate referrals. Counsellors must also be aware of the special medical needs of PLHA. The package of TB care (including TB screening and TB preventive therapy) may be available; in some countries ARV therapy is available, though often only for a minority. The spiritual needs of PLHA have been shown to be important in many countries and counsellors should be aware of these for referral.

Referrals to support services (medical, social and emotional, family planning services, STI services, antenatal services, home based care services and palliative care services), spiritual services and traditional healers, PLHA support groups, community groups and NGOs could be evaluated. An option for such an evaluation would be to add an indicator to the list of "core indicators":

Question: "Are HIV-seropositive women being successfully referred for follow-up care and support?"

Outcome Evaluation Indicator. Successful referral for follow-up care and support

Definition: Proportion of HIV-infected women who have been to a support service for HIV-related follow-up care at least once in the first six months postpartum.

Data Requirements: Number of HIV-infected women, and of these, number who have been to a support service for follow-up care related to their HIV infection at each of 3 early postpartum timepoints.

Data Source: MCH Cards, intervention follow-up interview

Data Collection Timepoints: 1, 3 and 6 months postpartum.

Data Analysis Timepoints: every 6 months for the previous 6 months

Note: No comparison group is necessary for this indicator.

Reference for Follow-up Sub-Section

Greenberg JB, and Neumann MS. What we have learned from the AIDS evaluation of street outreach projects. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

TASO/WHO: TASO Uganda the inside story. WHO/GPA/HCS/95.1