Like pregnant women and new moms, people living with HIV need access to regular health services even in the face of health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether it’s bringing COVID-19 information, screening and testing to communities using mobile outreach clinics or delivering HIV and TB drugs to people in their homes during the lockdown, we are determined that critical health care services continue to reach the people who need them. Through all of our HIV-related projects, we remain committed to meeting the United Nations’ 95-95-95 goals to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, while addressing the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lockdown has halted everything—we are not able to go to town and live our lives normally—but the Jhpiego team has made it easy for us to live a healthy life.

–Refioe Rabiri, 19, Lesotho

In South Sudan, we’re supporting 14 primary health care centers to provide antiretrovirals (ARVs) to more than 5,000 people living with HIV, including pregnant and breastfeeding women and children. We’ve also increased the percentage of people receiving a 6-month supply of ARVs from 6% to 53% in under 4 months, with a target of reaching 85% by the end of September. This allows them to avoid frequent visits to the health care facility. Community health workers are delivering ARVs to people’s homes during the lockdown, and our team even chartered a small plane to speed delivery of critical drugs to health centers in the hard-to-reach Western Equatoria State. This work is all through the Strengthening the Provision of Primary Health Care for HIV project, funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

In South Africa, Jhpiego clinical staff are leveraging resources from an existing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded project to optimize COVID-19 education and disease control for providers and clients. At the same time, they continue to dispense ARVs in communities. Community mobilizers are using voluntary medical male circumcision outreach clinics to conduct verbal screenings for COVID-19 and share information on how to protect against the novel coronavirus, identify symptoms and determine when to seek testing. Jhpiego staff have assessed more than 3,200 households for COVID-19, and, together with the South Africa Department of Health, we’ve screened more than 2,868 individuals and performed 503 tests.

In Nigeria, the Jhpiego-led RISE (Reaching Impact, Saturation, and Epidemic Control) project, supported by PEPFAR through USAID, is drawing on the consortium’s extensive experience in infectious diseases, laboratory diagnostics and emergency response to assist state and national governments as they fight the pandemic. Together with RISE partner ICAP, we’re working to ensure that the 47,715 people we serve continue to receive the care they need, including providing a 6-month supply of ARVs—delivered to their homes where necessary—and advising people living with HIV on how to stay healthy during the pandemic. A new “cluster” system will connect clients with facilities and community pharmacies near their homes so they can access drugs and services despite restrictions on movement.

In Lesotho, we’re making sure that clients on oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can continue their medication to prevent transmission of HIV. The Jhpiego PrEP project team has identified clients whose refills are due and is delivering the medication to their homes. In addition, the Jhpiego-supported Khotla clinic at Scott Hospital—a nurse-led male clinic providing comprehensive client-centered health services—is providing 3-month supplies of ARVs to stable clients at home. For all deliveries, we’re ensuring health care workers have the proper materials to prevent infection. The Technical Support to Enhance HIV/AIDS Prevention and Opportunities in Nursing Education project, funded by USAID, makes this all possible.

Johns Hopkins University Affiliate

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