Healthcare Heroes
When we get sick, health workers are there to help.
When we welcome a new baby into the world, health workers are there to keep mom and baby safe.
Health workers are there to help every child live a full and healthy life into adulthood, and work tirelessly
- To make sure babies are born HIV-free,
- To ensure healthy and bright futures for young people,
- To treat TB and other infectious disease,
- And to fight for an AIDS-free generation.
Health workers are heroes!
Join the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in celebrating the #HealthcareHeroes who keep our communities strong and thriving.
Lay Workers like Sefoli Are Key to an AIDS-Free Generation
Sefoli Mabafokeng is a lay counselor at Maputsoe Clinic in Leribe, Lesotho.
She works with members of her community to help them stay healthy and keep up with HIV treatment.
For pregnant women and mothers like Lebele Mathato, keeping up with HIV treatment is especially important in order to make sure their babies are born HIV-free.
When health workers use point-of-care technology, it is possible for mothers like Lebele to get early diagnoses for their infants, within the first months or weeks of life.
Read the full story
Sarah is Rethinking Quality Healthcare in Uganda
From a young age, Sarah Atuhairwe knew her calling was medicine.
“My mother recently reminded me that when I was little, I would play health worker, mixing up grasses I found and pretending to treat my siblings with them.”
Many years later, Sarah is a recognized leader in her home district of Mbarara, Uganda, both as a midwife and as the In-Charge at a health facility.
Until recently, she was one of three full-time staff members supporting a facility that can see over 800 patients a month. The heavy client flow caused her to work longs hours—and most weekends.
Sarah’s commitment to her team and her patients has not gone unnoticed. In January 2017, the Uganda State House awarded her facility a certificate of merit, one of only two facilities in the region to receive it.
Read the full story
These Tanzania Teams Work Hard for the Health of Their Communities
Catherine Alphons is a lay counselor at Same District Hospital in Tanzania. As a mother living with HIV, she loves counseling other HIV-positive women in her community that they can have HIV-free children.
She often meets with pregnant women and young mothers in their homes, encouraging them to attend their appointments and stay hopeful.
Renna Mjema is a nurse at Same District Hospital in Tanzania. She is passionate about caring for and supporting other mothers and women. Renna says that integrated health services have made the greatest difference that she has seen in terms of lowering HIV rates. When a client comes into the hospital for care, they are automatically counseled about HIV.
Renna gets satisfaction knowing that she has been instrumental in saving countless lives in her community.
Lucy Kavuye is the head nurse at Same District Hospital in Tanzania. She started working as a nurse in 2003 when HIV rates were at their highest levels. She and her dedicated staff have worked closely with families to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission rates to the point that it has been virtually eliminated in their area.
“As both a nurse and a mother, I feel the most happiness when I see an HIV-free baby after going through our PMTCT program,” says Lucy. “Our biggest challenge is that we need more nurses to provide the counseling for our clients. To reach an HIV-free generation, we need more health workers.”
Mwamaidi Msangi is a nurse at Mt. Meru Hospital where the staff has instituted a “checkpoint” model, which introduces clients to all of the possible services available at the hospital to ensure that no one falls through the cracks.
The adolescent HIV group at Mt. Meru Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania encourages youth to adhere to their ARVs, educates youth about HIV and how to keep themselves and their loved ones safe and healthy, follows up with individuals who miss their clinical appointments, and encourages one another to live positively and confidently.
Mwanaidi Msangi is a nurse who supports adolescent services and the adolescent support group at Mt. Meru Hospital.
As a nurse living with HIV, Tatu Msangi has been able to set an example in her community that HIV can be managed and that people living with HIV can be healthy and productive.
Tatu was diagnosed with HIV in 2004, but remained determined to become a nurse. In 2012, she earned her nursing degree and began working at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Tanzania.
“I can see how scared many of the women are when they first arrive at my clinic. I hold their hands and share my own story with them to give them hope.” Tatu tells them that her daughter, Faith, is HIV-free— living proof that PMTCT works.
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