Comprehensive Services for HIV, AIDS and TB - what the community needs

The parish of Lukuli and the surrounding catchment of Hope Clinic, includes many people who have not tested for HIV. They are also people with low incomes. To know their status may be understood as something they should test for - but fear of the result and the financial implications for themselves or their children stops them being tested.

Hope Clinic Lukuli broke that Barrier to Implementation of the National Strategy for HIV. Hope Clinic is the most integrated site for PEPFAR, Global Fund and private partnerships for HIV in Uganda. We know this because every PEPFAR funded activity in Uganda can or does pass to the community through Hope Clinic. We have coordinated PEPFAR and USAID funds and commodities with Global Fund malaria support, private company donations and international grant funders. We remain Not for Personal Profit but through partnerships our clients have free of charge access to:

  • Information, awareness, mobilisation and reducing stigma
  • Counselling, Prevention, Testing and Immediate Support
  • Counselling behaviour change to reduce risks
  • Care and Support, reducing opportunistic infections - nutrition help
  • Affordable malaria management (LLIN and ACT "Coartem")
  • Access to prompt lab testing and treatment of OIs
  • CD-4 monitoring and access to ARVs when required

In May 2008, Nation Television (NTV) dedicated its weekly health feature to the work of Hope Clinic. The report, by Leah Bwanika, included interviews with patients, coverage of the clinic and comment from the Director General of the Uganda Aids Commission Dr Apuuli. The report can be viewed here.[It is a 3MB Quicktime file and also works in Real Player but not Windows Media Player]. In June 2008, Ambassador Mark Dybul, the then Global Aids Coordinator attended the international HIV Implementers conference in Kampala to review partnerships and successful collaborations in addressing HIV/AIDS. The conference theme was partnerships and overcoming obstructions to implementation. The NTV feature shows how local coordination helps that.

In June 2010, the CNN Inside Africa team produced two reports "Funding Threat to Uganda's Winning AIDS program" The film of our work is here The response by Hope Clinic Lukuli has been to form stronger partnerships with the Ministry of Health and local and national government. Although access to US funded ARVs continues at Hope Clinic Lukuli for patients we tested and found positive before February 2009, those tested from March 2009 onwards, and found positive cannot access PEPFAR funded ARVs - and in Gaudencia's case, PEPFAR was also funding CD-4 tests which otherwise cost $10 per test. With the government and its partners - UNITAID, Global Fund and Clinton Foundation - Hope Clinic Lukuli continues to offer free to client ARVs and has over 100 clients on non-PEPFAR ARVs are present.

Hope Clinic Lukuli wishes to share its experiences with HIV Implementers. Our request is that Prevention can best be promoted through assuring the audience that, if needed, Care and Support will be affordable and accessible. The General Practice structure of Hope Clinic should be adopted in other countries to re-assure those who want to Know Their Status that they can access the care and support.

During the 2008 Implementers conference in Kampala (themed as "Scaling-Up through Partnerships: Overcoming Obstacles to Implementation") we presented on Coordination and harmonisation and Linking people with resources.

Our experience from the last ten years of Hope Clinic's growth is of great interest within Uganda. The clinic has been commended by many of the senior PEPFAR implementers as well as Government of Uganda officials.

We are pleased to have representation at the IAS 2010 Vienna conference and to share with others. We remain Not for Personal Profit. We are sustainable in our approach by accessing the resources that exist. In Tony Blair's recent Inter-Faith Foundation meeting, he noted that many faith-based and non-faith CBO are already working at the grassroots level. Hope Clinic Lukuli agrees with his observation that the cheapest and most effective means of delivering information on behaviour change or health commodities is to use and expand existing community networks. Hope Clinic is an affiliate of CCIH.

In the adjoining links we show what the management of Hope Clinic Lukuli has achieved to Break the Barriers. That barrier is to get large organisations to work with us - or even to hear our voice. Thank you for listening/ reading..