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Swaziland, with the world's highest HIV prevalence, is training lay people and nurses to assume sophisticated health care roles in its fight against the virus."It's a necessary policy in order to reach the number of people in the region given the shortage of human resources in the public sector," said Catherine Tomlinson, senior researcher at Treatment Action Campaign, a Cape Town, South Africa, advocacy group for people with HIV.
The initiative, begun in 2007 by Doctors Without Borders (DWB), trains lay people to fulfill responsibilities usually given to nurses. In turn, nurses step up to take on tasks normally assumed by doctors.
The shift to lay people and nurses has lessened the need for Swaziland's HIV patients to travel long distances for care. In Shiselweni - the country's poorest, most remote region, and home to the largest number of HIV patients - community health workers in 21 facilities counsel patients and administer tests for the virus.
The push for decentralization has been replicated in two parts of South Africa, with lay people producing outcomes similar to those of doctors, Tomlinson said.
The kingdom of Swaziland, tucked between South Africa and Mozambique, has an adult HIV prevalence of 26.1 percent. According to DWB, HIV has lowered Swaziland's average life expectancy in the last 20 years from 60 to 31.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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