HIV/AIDS Education and Training
Only with adequate numbers of trained health care workers serving alongside community and spiritual leaders can HIV prevention and care efforts be successful. Global Strategies utilizes a three pronged approach for education and training of health care and community workers in HIV prevention and care:
Workshops as the springboard for education and training for health care and community workers
Educational materials which are developed and distributed to provide relevant and up-to-date information
Support of Training Centers to insure ongoing education, support and sustainability
Workshops
Global Strategies routinely conducts workshops to train mid-level health care workers in HIV prevention and care. Workshops are pivotal for strengthening health care; addressing the extreme shortage of trained health care workers; and for identifying promising leaders to develop sustainable programs in resource poor areas. Our vision is to train local health care workers who in turn train others, expanding beyond our reach to establish additional HIV prevention and care programs in underserved locations. In the past decade we have conducted over 30 workshops in 14 countries attended by more than 5,500 health care workers.
Approximately 50 participants attend each workshop depending on local needs. Attendees, who are identified by our local partners, include physicians, laboratory technicians, traditional birth attendants, and community and faith based leaders. Topics include epidemiology, voluntary testing and counseling, prevention of HIV infection, treatment of HIV and opportunistic infections, breast-feeding and nutrition, mother-to-child-HIV transmission, universal precautions and prophylaxis to prevent HIV infection following accidental inoculation or sexual abuse and rape. Workshops are typically four to five days in length. In addition to teaching and distribution of reference materials, participants discuss issues specific to their level of health care, cultural issues and spiritual values. » View a sample workshop agenda.
Educational Materials
Health care workers require training manuals, up-to-date information on HIV prevention and care, and access to a vast array of health information available on the Internet. Each health care worker at our workshop is provided with printed manuals and “how to” documents, especially important for those with no Internet access. In regions where Internet access is limited or nonexistent, but where computers are available, we provide CDs that contain over 5,000 pages of medical information and training tools. Our combined distribution of printed manuals and CDs has totaled more than 11,000 copies.
Training Centers
Regional training centers allow health care workers to attend training sessions in their primary language, covering topics related to HIV prevention and care. The training centers provide a stable resource for continuing education throughout the year with the ability to provide library, computer resources and outreach to rural health care workers. Working with our partners, we developed training centers in Liberia, D.R. Congo and Nigeria.
Faith Alive, Jos Nigeria
Several years ago we conducted a Training Workshop on Prevention of Mother to Child HIV Transmission for traditional birth attendants at Faith Alive clinic in Jos, Nigeria, Now, with the support of Bayside Church in Granite Bay, California, there is a new three-story hospital and training center to educate and train health care workers from surrounding areas. Hundreds of individuals attended an opening ceremony. Participation of individuals from Bayside Church brought critically needed funding as well as volunteers, physicians, nurses, accountants, an architect and teachers to Nigeria – individuals all interested in meeting the needs of those infected with HIV and preventing its spread. Faith Alive is the first of our training centers, bringing HIV education and care to the community. Working together with the Faith Alive staff, the health, psychosocial and spiritual needs of those suffering from HIV are being met. Today, over 10,000 patients are seen at Faith Alive each month.
D.R. Congo
Our newest training center is under construction in Goma, Eastern Congo. The official language is French. Goma has suffered from many calamities including rebel attacks and a volcanic eruption. Global Strategies is in partnership with Heal Africa, a Faith Based hospital working in Goma. Christ Presbyterian Church, in Edina, MN and First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, CA have also joined us in supporting HEAL Africa with a commitment of over $800,000 for a training center, an HIV counseling and testing center, and programs to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV and treat HIV infected children. They have also organized volunteers to focus on developing resources to train physicians, nurses, community workers, technicians and pastors and improve the care of widows and orphans and vulnerable children, working along side small local faith based organizations. The goal is to provide a high quality education and training resource for Eastern Congo to meet the needs of those suffering from HIV and the effects of war. Training continues with our support of physicians and nurses who provide education and training to health care workers in rural clinics outside of Goma. More than 600 children are followed in the Children's AIDS Program at Heal Africa.