ICODI continues to intensify its community based approaches to implement HIV diagnosis and prevention programs/projects. In 2023, the funding from ViiV Healthcare-Positive Action enabled ICODI to start an implementation of a two years project focusing on engaging communities in Mbarara city slums and peri-urban communities to promote the rapid scale up of HIV combination prevention approaches for adolescent girls and young women who are at-risk of acquiring HIV. The goal of this project was to use community based approaches to increase awareness, uptake and retention on ARV based HIV prevention services plus other HIV prevention approaches like condom use and HIV testing among 2000 AGYW living in slums and peri-urban communities of Mbarara City-South Western Uganda.
ICODI partnered with the HIV prevention program in Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH) and other public health facilities providing HIV care and treatment to extend HIV prevention among AGYW using community based and peer led approaches. The organisation established Community based Drop-in Centres (DICs) in the urban slums and peri-urban communities and linked them to Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital based Drop-in Centre and other public health facilities that provide HIV prevention services in order to get/access PrEP options and other HIV prevention options like condoms that were given to screened and eligible AGYW in communities using a peer based approach. The project trained community based KP and PP peers to work with the project staff, volunteer health workers from the partner health facilities and other KP and PP organized groups in communities to support in mobilization, education, experience sharing during sensitization and community dialogue meetings and advocacy activities, support in service delivery and follow up on the project beneficiaries. The project further established other “beneficiaries agreed upon points of service” in communities in order to extend HIV prevention services further to AGYW who could not afford transport to come to the established community DICs. This further made refills simple and promoted adherence on prevention options of beneficiaries’ choice. The DICs also provided other services like screening and treatment for STIs, post exposure prophylaxis, providing family planning services and post gender based violence care among others. The project developed an SMS system to send health education and reminder messages to consented AGYW in the program to remind them about their refill return dates/days as well as other health education messages on HIV prevention, family planning and STI management among other topics.
The project also worked with community key influencers like local, religious and cultural leaders among others to demystify the existing cultural norm and beliefs that affected AGYW to access HIV prevention services. These key community influencers used their community platforms to drive demand and uptake of HIV testing and prevention services and encouraged AGYW to take up HIV testing and prevention services of their choice.
During the implementation, the project also continued engaging AGYW in some activities depending on their level of commitment, education and experience. Those nominated and identified by the project, were trained and equipped with more knowledge and skills and were requested to support the project staff under a time compensation scheme during the implementation of some project activities like mobilization, sensitization, health education, advocacy, peer support counselling/health education, distribution of information, education and communication (IEC) materials, delivery of the available HIV combination prevention options as per beneficiaries’ choice, referral and linkage processes and tracking those who miss appointment or are lost to follow up from their HIV prevention journey.
