Ethiopia - National HIV/AIDS Case Management Implementation Guidelines Launched

The Ethiopian Ministry of Health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and University of Washington today launched National Case Management Implementation Guidelines for HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia at the Intercontinental Hotel, Addis Ababa. The guidelines offer a proactive approach to help clients adhere to anti-retroviral treatment (ART) and care in Ethiopia.


The Guidelines are the result of four years of collaboration by several stakeholders committed to developing a practical approach to providing quality care for HIV/AIDS clients, especially those needing chronic care which requires strict ART adherence and retention. Today’s launch brought together health policy makers, delegates from the World Health Organization, U.S. Government, development partners, and various government agencies and non-governmental organizations.


The rapid scale-up of ART in Ethiopia has presented resource challenges for health facilities. Through improved HIV/AIDS case management, health facilities can proactively and systematically identify those HIV clients who are at risk for non-adherence with their treatment regimes. In addition to retaining clients on care, case management enables care-givers to provide them with critical support to ensure adherence and the continuity of care by using trained lay persons known as Adherence Case Managers and Adherence Supporters. HIV/AIDS case management also helps to trace and encourage clients who have not followed up on their treatment regimes to resume their treatment and care. At the same time, it also involves shifting some of the tasks from over-burdened clinical staff to a trained Adherence Case Managers.


In 2006, the Ministry of Health requested University of Washington’s International Training and Education Center for Health- Ethiopia (I-TECH) to develop a sustainable, pragmatic, and culturally appropriate case management model for the treatment and management of HIV clients in Ethiopia. Through funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and technical assistance from the CDC, I-TECH, the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, and the Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (FHAPCO) developed an HIV/AIDS case management model including training curricula in 2007. The model was piloted at six hospitals in the Amhara, Tigray, and Afar regions. The guidelines unveiled today expand this model nationwide.

Source:nazret.com/