An estimated 12 percent of the residents of Inhambane Province, Mozambique, are HIV positive, yet many do not know how the disease is transmitted or prevented, how to care for people with HIV/AIDS, or even if they have it themselves.

Through the ESOCUIDA program, funded by Irish Aid, International Relief & Development (IRD) is working with several local organizations in the province to help them develop the ability to fill this great need. This includes conducting trainings on home-based care provision, advocacy against stigma and discrimination, financial management and leadership, and workshops on nutritional support.

The associations that IRD works with are formal associations of people living with HIV/AIDS or are made up of volunteers that are HIV positive. The majority of volunteers trained are women, including six of the 10 presidents of the community-based organizations. The large number of people living with HIV/AIDS and women in leadership in these associations are a great example to other community members on a daily basis how to live positively with HIV/AIDS.

IRD works within the framework of the National Ministry of Health system. Nurses trained by the Ministry of Health as home-based care trainers monitor home-based care activities carried out by volunteers. IRD worked with these organizations to establish a referral system to facilitate linking patients from community-based organizations to hospitals. As a result of the quality of the programs, the volunteer program became a recognized extension of the health system.

IRD has been working with some of these organizations for almost four years. Since its inception, the program has expanded to its current coverage of 10 partners in nine districts throughout Inhambane Province with 350 home-based care volunteers involved and nearly 3,000 chronically ill and people living with HIV/AIDS being cared for by IRD’s partners on a monthly basis. The ESQCUIDA program also aims to address other critical concerns of AIDS patients and their families through promotion of income-generation activities and food support and in this way aims to impact positively on their overall quality of life.

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