World Vision International & Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation
World Vision International
World Vision International is a Christian organization committed to working with children, families, and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.
Need
In the town of Kahama, the HIV infection rate for people ages 15-49 is 9.4%, over 5% higher than the national average of Tanzania. Kahama is a busy gold-mining region with a transient population and this environment often leads to high-risk behavior for contracting HIV.
A lack of health services, frequent shortages of medical supplies, a high rate of home births, and deficiencies in identifying children with HIV all point to the critical need for a community-based program for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission.
Project
World Vision will promote HIV prevention through community-based programs including integrating mother-to-child transmission prevention services.
The project will train community health workers, caregivers, and volunteers to reach families through household visits and educate about behavior change. Health workers will urge pregnant women, especially those who are HIV-positive, to give birth in a health facility and will work to improve follow-up care for those mothers and their children.
The Foundation’s Secure the Future Technical Assistance Program will help develop master trainers and advocacy agents. It will also help create a training curriculum and workshops. The program will mobilize communities to engage their local government and policymakers in discussions on how to improve HIV prevention services in their areas.