HIV/AIDS counseling is a confidential dialogue between a client and a MPACCO care provider, who is known as a counsellor. Counseling aims to enable the client to cope with stress and to make personal decisions related to HIV/AIDS. It includes an evaluation of personal risk of HIV transmission and facilitation of preventive behaviour. The process begins with the client's first contact with a MPACCO counselor for HIV related needs.
Counseling is offered to create a helping relationship between the counselor and the infected or affected person to help him/her and/or the related family and community cope with the challenges posed by HIV infection and disease.
Who is eligible for HIV/AIDS counseling?
HIV/AIDS counseling is provided to people with HIV/AIDS and their families.
Those who are HIV positive and their families.
Those seeking to undergo an HIV test.
Those who are concerned that they are at risk or have been at risk of acquiring HIV infection, e.g. those whose partners are HIV infected or have symptoms of HIV infection, those who may have been exposed through blood, have had unprotected sex with multiple partners and those whose regular partners have had unprotected sex with multiple partners.
Components of MPACCO's HIV/AIDS counseling session.
The provision of emotional support, including helping the client to cope with stress and plan for the future. In addition, the assessment of risks and planning for risk reduction, including the development of a decision-making capacity about options for prevention. MPACCO 's clients are proud of the confidentiality and the personalised process involving direct care and access to clients' information.
The types of counseling provided include:
Pre-test Counseling Offered to clients before carrying out an HIV antibody test to establish their sero-status and to those interested in information on HIV infection and disease. It aims at preparing a person to make an informed decision about whether to take an HIV test and to consider implications of the positive or negative results and ways of living with them.
This counseling also helps a person to consider behavioral change as a means of preventing HIV infection and to realise the dangers of having unprotected sex, which could increase the risk of HIV infection. Situations that may require post test counseling: A couple intending to get married; someone who has lost a spouse or a child to HIV/AIDS; a mother having a sick child who has symptoms of HIV/AIDS; someone sick or worried.
Post test Counseling
Offered to a client who is willing to receive and learn about the HIV antibody test results. It helps to ensure that the person has understood the meaning of the results s/he has received and provides the emotional support necessary to cope with the results.
Prevention Counseling
Provides information to clients with regard to preventing infection and re-infection of HIV and STD. This counseling helps the client think about the factors that may predispose him/her to opportunistic infections and what s/he can do to minimise those risks.
Bereavement Counseling
Offered to the close spouses, children and family members in the event of the death of their relative. It aims at helping the family members develop a positive perspective on death and other losses related to HIV infection, such as physical deterioration of the body, loss of friends and decline in economic well being.
Crisis Counseling.
In the context of HIV infection and disease a crisis may be sparked off by any of the following: Sudden onset of an illness e.g. herpes zoster, intractable diarrhea, skin rash, etc; sudden fear or indicator of dying and loss of spouse or child; hospitalisation and seeing others who are doing well die; sudden loss of employment and accommodation; losing a friend or relative you had entrusted your future life with.
Couple Counseling
Couple counseling is where two individuals or more (man and woman) who have had or intend to have sexual relations discuss issues concerning HIV infection and diseases together. This helps to strengthen the relationship and promote mutual understanding. Couple counseling enables the two individuals to share and learn more information on HIV infection and STD.
Together and individually, the persons involved make joint strategies of supporting one another socially and psychologically. They are able to share their feelings, anxieties, concerns and worries about HIV infection and diseases. In order to develop and promote behavioral change strategies, couple counseling gives the couple an opportunity to identify factors that can predispose them to HIV and to set strategies for prevention. It enables both individuals to set joint strategies on how to avoid becoming infected with HIV and other STD's, as well as how to prevent pregnancy. It also helps the couple learn more information on safer sex methods e.g. condom use, having family dialogue etc.
Family Counseling This is offered to those living in a committed relationship with a client, those living in the same household as a client and important members of the client's extended family or community.
BackgroundMPACCO clients continually confide in their counselors that their children's future is one of their greatest concerns. As they struggle to fight the disease and remain strong for their children, they fear an uncertain future.
Recognizing that education is the best response to the plight of orphans and vulnerable children, MPACCO's Child Survival Initiative aims to provide scholastic support to the neediest clients' children.
The Child Support Initiative has helped to ease the financial burden of many families, but the benefits extend far beyond finances. Parents, guardians, and teachers report that the beneficiaries have gained confidence, improved their academic performance, and developed social and life skills. The apprenticeship program has empowered the students to run their own businesses and some are now providing for their siblings.
Formal Education support
By choosing one child per household based on financial need and academic performance, MPACCO has broadened the impact of child support. MPACCO has to date supported over 50 children with tuition, boarding fees and scholastic materials in primary and secondary schools. Other children have received apprenticeship training through our VST programme. As the Child Survival Initiative grows, MPACCO has been able to help more and more children. Most of the children have been able to finish school and move on with life. Others have attended to University and are able to support their families.
Apprenticeship program
MPACCO supports older children who have either dropped out of school or failed to continue to levels of higher education through the apprenticeship scheme, an effort to train children of MPACCO clients in practical skills so that they can quickly gain self-reliance and support siblings through our VST Programme (Vocational Skills Training). The various training include saloon and hairdressing, brick laying and concrete practice, goat rearing,piggery,poultry , carpentry, tailoring, etc...
Since the inception of this program, MPACCO has supported many children under this scheme. All the graduating children are given start up tool kits to be used in their respective vocations.
Child Centre
MPACCO provides psychosocial support to orphans who accompany their parents to our center for treatment. MPACCO created child play centers in order to provide better access of OVC to quality medical care. The project also improves the nutritional status of OVC through the provision of high nutrient value foods, strengthening the economic coping capacities of OVC families through provision of loans for starting IGAs, enhancing the capacity of families and communities to respond to the psychosocial needs of orphans, vulnerable children, and their caregivers and improving the institutional capacity of MPACCO in provision of children day care and support services.
Among other activities, these children have been involved in outdoor games and entertained with films of their age group.
MPACCO DRAMA CLUB (MDC)
The MPACCO Drama Club was founded by a group of people whose parents or relatives were living with or died of AIDS. They found that they could support and care for each other as a way of reducing the trauma and learn from experience to change their behavior and prevent HIV infection. MPACCO supports the establishment of DMC as a pilot project aimed at addressing sexual reproductive health issues of the youth with regard to current AIDS epidemic. The aim of DMC is to build a vision of boys and girls to respect their masculinity and feminity respectively and encourage positive attitudes towards people living with AIDS.
Among other activities, DMC members reach out to communities; they carry out home visits and also peer education talks as well.
HERBAL MEDICINE
We do herbal research and also prepare,plant and pack herbal medicine which treats many different diseases.In this programme,we have a temporary herbal research center at Kakomo which needs to be developed to a better research center with enough facilities like building,preparing tools,packing materils,office etc.
