Temwa - Sustainable Community Development, Malawi

Tuesday, 14 July 2009 14:19

ribbon The T.J. Meyer Family Foundation funded mobile voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) project has got off to a very encouraging start. The project brief included the provision of mobile VCT clinics to a minimum of 200 individuals in ten locations across Usisya over a period of ten months.

After a meeting with the District VCT Co-ordinator in Nkhata Bay, two counsellors were made available to Temwa to run three mobile VCT clinics in Usisya during April in the villages of Chiwisi, Kawanda and Banda. The counsellors came by ferry to Usisya and Temwa then used a hired boat to transport them to clinic sites. The three separate clinics tested 201 people for HIV in total, which is already more than the minimum amount set for the whole project. This was a fantastic result and the counsellors were overwhelmed by the sheer volumes of people that were willing to be tested. Four more clinics are already planned in the villages of Bundi, Bigha, Usingini and Bula and will be taking place soon.

The great need for this project for the people of Usisya is highlighted by the fact that approximately 11,000 people live over an hour's walk from the only VCT clinic in Usisya, with some people living up to nine hours away. Mobile VCT clinics are something Temwa has been asked to provide by various communities in Usisya and we are very happy to have started delivering them.

Also as part of this project, Temwa will establish three local support groups for people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWA). Before 2007, no-one in Usisya lived openly with the disease, but since then a combination of factors - including support from Temwa - has resulted in the first PLWA support group being established. This group meets regularly to discuss issues facing them as HIV-positive people, to receive various training, and to support one another physically and emotionally. However, as there are many people who cannot travel the distances necessary to attend this group, new PLWA groups will be set up in the North, South and West of Usisya to allow for greater participation and support for affected people in the region. Community sensitization meetings have begun as a first step in the establishment of these support groups.

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The Usisya Health Centre was formerly the only place to get tested for HIV before this project.