The ACER project
Each day 300 – 500 people in Zambia become infected with HIV. About 900,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS, and of these 200,000 people need ARV treatment. The Zambian government’s national implementation plan for scaling up ARV treatment explicitly states that “communities can make major contributions to ART programmes.”[1] One of the key guiding principles of the government’s programme is to promote partnerships between government, private sector, civil society and communities as an essential component for effective scale up of ARV treatment.[2] The Community Education and Referral: Supporting Adherence to ARV Treatment and Prevention for People with HIV project (ACER project), funded by the European Union and USAID, was officially launched on June 1st, 2004. The project now also receives funding from the ‘Saving Lives 1 by 1’ programme of Aidsfonds, a Dutch NGO. The overall aim of the project is to improve health-seeking behaviour, equity of access, adherence to ARV treatment, and prevention for people with HIV through community education and referral, with the participation of people with HIV and other community stakeholders. A further aim of the project is to build and strengthen treatment and prevention-friendly communities. This project is based on the findings of a series of consultations conducted by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance.[3]
The ACER project currently employs four treatment support workers. They have all been living openly with HIV for a number of years. After participating in a series of training programmes they now work in government ARV clinics in Ndola and Lusaka. They provide support to people visiting the clinics by listening and offering advice on issues related to ARV treatment, for example, starting and remaining on treatment, life-time adherence to treatment, positive living, prevention, psychological support and meeting economic and social needs. They have strong relationships with community organisations and health services to which they refer clients for further care, support and prevention.
The ACER project also employs two people with HIV as treatment mobilisers. They are based in the communities of Nkwazi (Ndola) and Ngombe (Lusaka). Their work involves raising awareness of HIV and ARV treatment, increasing treatment literacy and linking communities with the treatment support workers in the ARV clinics. This is achieved through co-ordinating community education and referral activities in Nkwazi and Ngombe, reaching over 80,000 people with intensive, on-going activities.
[1] Scaling-Up Antiretroviral Treatment for HIV/AIDS in Zambia, National Implementation Plan, 2004-2005. August 2004 (draft)
[2] Scaling-Up Antiretroviral Treatment for HIV/AIDS in Zambia, Policy and Operational Guidelines, Ministry of Health, Government of the Republic of Zambia (draft) 2004
[3] Voices from the Community, November 2002; Voices from a Rural Community, May 2003; Experience of Treatment Users and Health Care Workers, March 2004. (all published by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and can be found at www.aidsalliance.org)
