A day in the life of treatment support workers and treatment mobilisers
Mauld Maila Inaka, Ndola
"The post was challenging, it being new in the Zambian medical field, with many expectations as to how it would be interpreted by other health workers. Being a registered nurse and midwife, and at the same time openly living with HIV/AIDS and on HAART [highly active anti-retroviral therapy], also made me wonder how this post would work out – bearing in mind that my main role would be to support HIV-positive people who are starting treatment or who are on treatment already.
But the outcome is positive, thanks to the impact of my role. I have become an extra hand to the medical staff. Patients find it easier to talk about their problems with me rather than taking their concerns and questions back home. We deal with matters such as side effects, adherence counselling, reproductive health, positive prevention and links to other kinds of support in the community. In us, patients have found workers who manage their needs as a whole (psychological and physical) rather than being only concerned with their virus.
Medical staff also find it easier to confide in a fellow member of staff, and some have come on board and are now on HAART. Consultations come from wards for patients who are chronically ill with HIV/AIDS-related illnesses for them to be encouraged to do voluntary counselling and testing and get the benefit of anti-retroviral therapy.
I hold my head high that the post of treatment support worker is recognised as playing a vital role in supporting people starting HAART and those already on HAART. And I look forward to the time when the government, through the Ministry of Health, will put the role of treatment support worker on the syllabus for medical doctors and nursing schools in Zambia."
