Teaching Programmes

1. Core Paediatric Programme

We work to increase the knowledge and skills needed for the care and treatment of children, adolescents and pregnant women with HIV through the provision of paediatric HIV specialist practitioners working alongside South African Governmental Department's healthcare personnel.

Specific training will include:

• Managing HIV in children
• ARV medication (drug preparations, dosing and side-effects)
• When to start treatment (reinforcement of the South African Paediatric guidelines)
• Adherence to medication
• Talking to children about their diagnosis (disclosure)
• Adolescents and HIV
• Sexual health and family planning for HIV positive adolescents
• Nutrition and growth
• Interpretation of laboratory tests
• Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV

These sessions are offered in the form of on-site mentoring, didactic teaching sessions, bed-side ward rounds: shadowing and small group case discussions as local needs dictate.

2. Adolescent Programme

As treatment improves and becomes more widely available, many more children with HIV are now surviving beyond childhood. Whilst this is a great achievement, service providers and key stakeholders now need to consider how to deliver care and support for HIV infected adolescents.

CHIVA Africa's dedicated Adolescent programme provides workshops and seminars aimed directly at healthcare professionals treating adolescents, as well as exploring potential strategies for addressing the challenges that may arise in caring for adolescents living with HIV. The workshops combine aspects of physiological and psychological factors affecting adolescents; the programme is then modified following analysis of participant feedback and identification of priority areas for future support.

Reports and Evaluations:

Adolescent Programme Evaluation 2008 - 2011

The eThekweni Workshop Report

3. Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission(PMTCT) Programme

We will provide training and mentoring to relevant healthcare practitioners on practical issues around:

• Primary prevention of HIV -focus on woman of childbearing age and adolescents
• Preventing unintended pregnancies among women living with HIV
• Prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) during pregnancy, delivery and beast feeding
• Providing appropriate treatment, care and support to women living with HIV and their children and families

4. Support for Hospital to Primary Health Facilities Shift: Kenneth Kaunda District of NWP

In this district there are now more patients on ART in community facilities than the hospital - the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District is planning a 3 phase approach to increasing the number and improving the treatment of children and adolescents on ART. PHC staff are more confident and competent at treating adults with ART; support is now needed to provide them with the additional skills and confidence to manage their paediatric patients closer to home.

• Phase One : Children on ART will be down-referred to PHC clinics for ongoing care and treatment.
• Phase Two: Older children will be initiated at PHC level - without the need to refer to hospital
• Phase Three: Younger children (i.e those still requiring liquid medication) will be initiated at PHC level.

Our programme will support this new and vital approach with provision of training,mentoring and teaching to PHC staff from all four sub-districts on issues involved in each of the phases.