Educating and Empowering Caregivers to Keep Children on Treatment

Technical officers with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were distressed when they noticed that a significant number of children and adolescents living with HIV were not adhering well to their antiretroviral medication—resulting in less viral suppression and danger of illness and death. Through the IHAP-Kinshasa project, staff project developed an education and empowerment approach, which they named Yika Mpiko, which means “Be persistent” or “Don’t give up.”

“During the project implementation process, caregivers stated some reasons that prevent them and their children adhere to HIV treatment. These included negligence, false information, food insecurity, and lack of disclosure adolescents,” says Willy Vange, IHAP-Kinshasa health zone officer.

“Based on these causes, Yika Mpiko program staff set up a health coaching curriculum providing good information on how parents/caregivers can do to improve treatment adherence as well showcasing treatment adherence benefit versus risks due to non-adherence to treatment. We also shared the experiences of caregivers who succeeded in seeing the viral load of their children suppressed.”

Yika Mpiko was piloted in the Masina 2 Health Zone in Kinshasa, where 27 children with unsuppressed viral loads were closely looked after by their caregivers, under the coaching of the IHAP-Kinshasa project staff. Three months after implementing the program, 22 of the children (81%) had suppressed viral loads.

Caregivers gathered in a focus group to measure the impact of the Yika Mpiko program.

Voices of Caregivers