Post-HIV test clubs give mutual support

“When my father died, we stayed with my mother. But then she started falling sick and became too weak to support us. When she died, we went to live with our grandmother, where my sister also lives.”

Rachael is 15 years old and HIV positive. She lives with a friend who has also tested positive for HIV. She is a member of the Agolot Post-Test Club (PTC), Tororo East in Uganda, an HIV/AIDS support group for people who have been tested. The criteria for joining is only that one has taken an HIV test at an approved site, regardless of the result. Clients have to go through pre-counselling to get an HIV test and post-test counselling when they are getting their results. Joining the PTC is voluntary.

Margaret Awor, a 43 year-old mother of two and a member for the last 2 years says, “I had lost hope. This worsened after the death of my husband who left me with two children. I did not know what to do. I would hide and keep to myself.”

Plan's partnerships

PTCs support those who have been tested for HIV/AIDS

In collaboration with Plan and other partners, PTC members are trained to carry out health education campaigns in their communities. Music, dance and drama are the main channels through which members raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. These campaigns help reduce the stigma and mobilise more people to come forward for the available services like voluntary counselling and testing.

The Agolot PTC chairman, Asaph Ogalla, remembers when the club was formed in June 2003. “We started this club with only 24 members but now 225 are registered. Of these 30 are children, 4 of whom are positive. We use music, dance and drama to reach out to communities. Children gather to receive information on HIV/AIDS plus their rights and responsibilities.”

Members are encouraged to participate in all activities. PTCs have developed income-generating projects like tailoring and handicrafts. The proceeds go into a common account from which individual members can borrow funds. At times, the proceeds are directly shared out among the members.

“We have a micro finance institution which is owned and managed by the club members themselves. We rear goats as well as grow groundnuts. All this we can either sell or eat,” explains Asaph.

At the meetings members are supplied with supplementary foods. They also share a warm meal together through the support of Plan and partners.
 
Rachael says with a smile, “I regularly get food so I never starve. And it means I am able to take my drugs and also to go to school.”

Members support for each other

A professional counsellor facilitates group psycho-social counselling. Or they may invite a nurse or doctor to come and answer questions. Most importantly, the group is an opportunity to give mutual support and share coping strategies.

The weekly meetings also provide an opportunity to watch out for each other. If a member fails to turn up it could be because of an opportunistic infection or deteriorating health condition and others are then able to organise for home-based care or transfer the client to a clinic or hospital for treatment. Orphaned and vulnerable children like Rachael are identified through these meetings because PTC members get to know who and where people are within their communities.

Post Test Clubs do face challenges. Asaph says; “Shelter is our major problem. We meet under a tree and our meetings are always interrupted during the rainy season. The death of our friends, especially the most active ones, creates gaps in our activities. Men do not easily go for testing and hence there are fewer in the PTCs.”

The challenges do not dissuade members like Margaret who says, “I’ve received so much through my PTC – information on how to live healthily, seeds for planting, drugs and food whenever we come for our meetings. All I’ve learnt will enable me to live longer and take care of my lovely boys.”