June 2020

We Must Not Forget Our Mission to End AIDS in Children, Mothers, and Families

The Director of EGPAF-Kenya Talks About Maintaining HIV Programs During COVID-19: Part 1

Team EGPAF: As the Kenya country director for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), how have you shifted resources and work in response to COVID-19?

Eliud Mwangi, Country Director, EGPAF Kenya: COVID-19 has been unprecedented and has really affected a lot of our programming. As they say every cloud has a silver lining and despite the many disruptions in our work, COVID-19 has provided many opportunities to rethink how we work, catalyzed many innovative approaches that we shall carry along into the future. It was critical to ensure the safety of our staff as well as the frontline health care workers at site while also ensuring that the services still continue to the extent possible.


EGPAF maintains site support to ensure service provision continues. Teams visit the sites at least twice a week and maintain contact with sites on a daily basis using virtual means through phone calls and social media platform.

COVID-19 has provided many opportunities to rethink how we work, catalyzed many innovative approaches that we shall carry along into the future. It was critical to ensure the safety of our staff as well as the frontline health care workers at site while also ensuring that the services still continue. Eliud Mwangi

I am happy to note that we have maintained the critical services. The drugs are still being provided. Testing is being done for those who come to the facilities. But now the teams can’t go to test in the community because of social distancing. This has reduced the number of HIV tests that we can perform. This is a problem because the first step to treating HIV is testing.

EGPAF is reaching out through calls and an SMS [text messaging] platform called Ushauri [Kiswahili for counseling] to clients to remind them of their clinic visits and also provide adherence counseling to adhere to HIV treatment. We are giving them more months of drugs—multiple month dispensing—so that they don’t need to come in the clinic every other month.

We have ensured that our staff are safe by providing them with a personal protective equipment [PPE] and ensuring that they are educated about COVID-19 and how to protect themselves. EGPAF is also partnering with the county governments and other stakeholders to ensure the entire health work force are sensitized and supported to provide the services in a safe environment.

We have also established a toll-free number in Homa Bay County where our clients can call in to seek help and even seek counseling services.

Why is it important to maintain continuity with people living with HIV during this pandemic?

EM: HIV is a chronic illness. COVID-19 has been shown to have worse outcomes for people with pre-existing or chronic illnesses. It will therefore be a double tragedy if people on antiretroviral [ARV] medication do not continue with their treatment. It is therefore essential that people living with HIV continue to take their medication and take precautionary measures, including social distancing to minimize the chances of infection with COVID-19.

We have also revamped community ART [antiretroviral therapy] groups. Instead of having all of the clients in a group coming into the facility, one individual can pick up medication for the group and distribute to their peers in a community setup, which is less congested and easier to observe social distancing measures.

The great success story of HIV over the past 20 years has been prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). Do you have any concerns that COVID-19 may interrupt that trend.

EM: It’s a big concern because some clients, including mothers who are pregnant, are fearing to come to the clinics or to the hospitals—because they fear for their health, and they feel that when you come to the facility you are more likely to get the COVID-19 infection.

Some clients, including mothers who are pregnant, are fearing to come to the clinics or to the hospitals. So we are calling them to remind them to come for the clinics. And we are taking precautions at the clinic to prevent transmission of COVID-19. Eliud Mwang

When they miss the clinics, this will really affect adversely the gains that we have made over the years to make sure that pregnant women are tested for HIV and enrolled in treatment if they test positive. So we are calling them to remind them to come for the clinics. And we are taking precautions at the clinic to prevent transmission of COVID-19.

Clients really benefit from the PMTCT interventions which help to ensure that they have HIV-negative children and ultimately an HIV free generation.

Can you give me a gauge of the spirits of the staff and of healthcare workers?

EM: When COVID-19 came in, the anxiety was palpable especially because of they didn’t even have the PPE initially, but now they are a bit less anxious.

What we are learning is that, when health workers are provided with the right information, and the necessary protective gear, we have seen them coping very well. They are now getting a little bit comfortable about attending to their duties on a day-to-day basis.

But it has not been easy. One of the areas that has been neglected is the psychological support for front line health workers. Most of the support has concentrated on the PPE and very little consideration has been made to their emotional, psychological, and social well-being. This needs to be prioritized moving forward.

Created by:

Eliud Mwangi, EGPAF-Kenya Country Director

Country:

Kenya

Topics:

COVID-19; General; Strengthening Local Capacity