Some Pics 10 07 08

 
 
 
 

Invitation : AHF IGNOU MOU Signing at US Embassy American Center

INVITATION

AIDS Healthcare Foundation - India Cares
(Providing cutting- edge medicine and advocacy regardless of ability to pay)
Cordially invites your kind presence to grace and witness the momentous occasion of the
Signing of Memorandum of Understanding between

Indira Gandhi National Open University
(IGNOU),
and
AIDS Healthcare Foundation - India Cares
(AHF India Cares)

On 10 July 2008 at 4.00 PM

At Embassy of the USA, American Center,
Kasturba Gandhi Marg
New Delhi - 110 001








Dr Chinkholal Thangsing
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Chief Asia Pacific Bureau

RSVP: Tel: 91 11 41745541/42 Cell: 9911331998 (Dr.Mahesh Ganesan)

Signing of MoU between Indira Gandhi National Open University and AIDS Healthcare Foundation India Cares

Date: July 10, 2008
Time: 4.00 PM - 5.30 PM
Venue:
Embassy of the USA,
American Center, 24, Kasturba Gandhi Marg
New Delhi - 110 001


Objectives

 To build institutional linkage in the delivery of educational training and to provide accreditation for the benefit of potential seekers in HIVAIDS treatment through HIV Medics programme
 To make joint efforts in promoting and implementing training and education programmes for the empowerment of the people working with HIVAIDS.


Agenda

4:00 – 4:05 Song of Hope – Contextualizing the need for HIVAIDS care through a music video produced by AHF India Cares and Baanyan Tree Productions

4:05 – 4:10 Welcome note by Ms. Diane Brandt, Acting American Center Director

4:10 – 4:15 Brief introduction about HIV Medics Programme and AHF India Cares perspective of MoU by Asia Pacific Bureau Chief, AHF – Global

4:15 – 4:20 IGNOU’s perspective of MoU to support HIV Medics Programme by Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU

4:20 – 4:25 Signing of MoU between IGNOU and AHF India Cares representatives in the presence of dignitaries

4:25 – 4:30 Vote of thanks

4:30 – 5:30 High Tea and concurrent media questions and answers

IGNOU AHF India Cares MOU 'HIV Medics'

Media Brief

HIV Medics: Training Community Members as Healthcare Workers in the Fight against AIDS

HIV Medics are paraprofessional healthcare workers trained to assist clinicians in the provision of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV who will provide initial patient screenings, complete patient histories and refer patients to physicians for physical exams and initiation of ART. They also draw blood, dispense medications and provide medication adherence counseling and HIV testing. Shifting of these aforementioned tasks to the HIV Medics frees up physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals for more complex tasks and enables them to see more patients. These factors contribute to the overall goal of increasing the number of people receiving ART and improving the quality of care.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest provider of specialised HIV medical care in the United States, developed the HIV Medic training programme to address the shortage of healthcare workers in resource-constrained countries. This training program is designed for students with no prior medical training or experience. The training programme is intensive and covers 12 weeks of full-time study. HIV Medic students must have a high-school equivalent education, read and write English and be able to commit to the full 12 weeks of training in order to enter the training programme. In addition, HIV Medics are often HIV positive themselves.

COURSE WORK OVERVIEW

Didactic Knowledge

Students participate in six weeks of classroom teaching

Clinical Skills

Students receive six weeks of clinical clerkships. The first two weeks are in the classroom where students learn and practice the following simple clinical skills:

Guided Clinical Practice

The remaining four weeks of clinical clerkships are spent on guided practice of knowledge and skills. Students rotate through the following types of facilities under the guidance of physicians, clinical officers and nurses.

• HIV/AIDS primary care clinics
• Hospital HIV and TB inpatient wards
• Outreach Programmes
• Counselling and testing programmes
• Rural health centers

Students return to the classroom once a week during rotations to discuss cases and experiences.

At the end of the six-week didactic training programme, a comprehensive midterm exam is given to assess student learning. The second six-week section of the training is a clinical practicum. Students participate in rotations designed to give them hands-on primary care experience with HIV positive patients, HIV and TB inpatients, opportunistic infection treatment, side-effect management and adherence counselling. At the end of the 12 week training session, the students are given a comprehensive examination that they must pass in order to graduate and receive their certificates. After graduation, the HIV Medics work full-time at the clinic level where they are supervised by clinic staff and receive regular continuing medical education (CME) credits.

HIV Medics Program

AHF/India Cares’ shall reach out to partners providing HIV care and psychosocial services to identify candidates to attend the training. Minimum requirement is high school leaver’s certificate education. Candidates have to make a written application for the training and undergo an oral interview.

Candidates who qualify then enroll to undergo a 3 month course of which 6 weeks is didactic and another 6 weeks of practical clinical rotation in sites providing HIV/AIDS care and these include hospitals, Community based organizations, NGOs and Primary Healthcare Centers

Lessons Learned from AHF International Experiences

• HIV Medics program offers a practical hands-on solution to increase the human capacity needed to expand HIV treatment and care in resource-poor countries.
• HIV Medics program can be replicated in other developing countries with high HIV prevalence.
• HIV Medics represent a unique cadre

Recommendations

• With full supervision from nurses, doctors and clinical officers, HIV Medics have freed the hands of nurses to provide critical care to ill clients while the Medics assist with counselling, triage, adherence education, dispensing, HIV testing, home visits.
• This shifting of tasks has enabled clients to be quickly scaled up onto ART instead of being on the waiting list for long. It has also eased staff burn out as there are extra hands to fill the gap.
• Ultimately it has improved on quality of care as more time can be spent with individual patients.
• There is further need to train more lay providers considering the short time it takes to complete the training, good quality of work they do and the urgent need to fill the human resource gap if we are to achieve UNIVERSAL ACCESS BY 2010.

AHF India Cares and IGNOU Sign MOU

Meet the BIG

Meeting Mrs Nene Anand who visited the AIDS Care Home and won the hearts of the patients, inmates, staff and everyone with her gracefulness and compassion.

Michael Weinstein President AIDS Healthcare Foundation spelled bound and touched by the beauty of the TAJ.

With the CII HIVAIDS Team and Chairman/Advisor of CII Mr Tarun Das during Michael's India Visit.