Care & Support
Four boys at the SOS Children's Village in Vishakhapatnum, India. SOS Children's Villages focuses on family-based, long-term care of children who can no loner grow up with their biological familes. They offer various forms of support to strengthen and stablize familes as much as possible so that they can once again manage their lives independently and care for their children.
Mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression, cognitive impairment, and substance abuse are often undetected and under-treated in people living with HIV (PLWH). View AIDSTAR-One's Technical Brief on Mental Health and HIV to learn more and access useful resources related to this topic.
Access to integrated care and support (C&S) services is extremely important for people living with HIV (PLWH) and their families. Comprehensive C&S programming helps PLWH improve their overall well-being by working with health providers, family members, and the community to stabilize health, treat opportunistic infections and other illnesses, provide nutritional support, improve the safety of drinking water, and offer psychosocial and spiritual support, among other services.
As more and more PLWH start antiretroviral treatment and health outcomes improve, the need for C&S services also grows. To increase access to and use of C&S services, AIDSTAR-One advances good and promising programmatic practices in C&S by:
- Serving as a leading resource for USAID, PEPFAR, other U.S. Government agencies, and partners by providing a platform for global technical leadership and knowledge management in mental health, C&S integration, and evaluation.
- Providing support to strengthen the programmatic content, quality, and sustainability of service delivery. Examples include assessments of the supply chain for the antibacterial cotrimoxazole and of program-based C&S monitoring and evaluation activities; development of adaptable training materials to improve water safety, hygiene, and sanitation in facility-based C&S programs; and support for expanding palliative care activities in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Providing technical assistance to bring programs to scale and to strengthen programs based on local conditions.
Also Available from AIDSTAR-One
Technical Brief
Private Sector Involvement in HIV Service Provision
A sampling of promising practices that leverage the private health care sector in resource-constrained settings
Technical Brief
Mental Health and HIV/AIDS
A tool for program planners and health care providers concerned about mental health issues in HIV care and support for adults
Database
National HIV Treatment Guideline Database
A growing collection of national HIV treatment guidelines from around the world
