Effective engagement by the Katchoua Foundation in partnership with RTG in the fight to End Inequalities, End AIDS.
The first stage of HIV care is testing and screening for HIV. Going into the community to carry out free screening gives the opportunity for many to get tested. With COVID-19, a lot of people are scared to visit hospital facilities for testing, and people living with HIV in Cameroon are unaware of their HIV-positive status, and the few people who know their status are not engaged in regular HIV care.
Thus, conducting testing and screening to diagnose and identify HIV-positive individuals is still an emergency. Going into the community for massive screening is an effective strategy to decrease the risk of spreading HIV and to connect people to treatment to minimize the progression of the disease.
Pre and post-counseling before testing ensure that when people test positive for HIV they are more likely to take precautions to prevent others from acquiring the virus. People who test positive during screening are linked to treatment centers and knowledge of one’s HIV status may lead to decreased risk-taking behavior.
HIV Screening can be done both in clinics and in community settings.
Conducting testing and screening to diagnose and identify HIV-positive individuals is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an effective tool to decrease the risk of spreading HIV
People who test positive during screening can be linked to treatment and counseling services, and knowledge of one’s HIV status may lead to decreased risk-taking behavior.
Models to identify HIV/AIDS cases can be implemented in both clinical and community settings.
Routine HIV screening is necessary to End Inequalities, End AIDS.
Together we can fight HIV.
HIV/AIDS Awareness has positive results through education on how it is transmitted, prevented, and treated.
Leave your comfort zones and together we can close the gaps that are preventing progress towards ending AIDS.
The world will be a better place if we can strategize a new approach; community screening to reduce inequalities that drive the AIDS epidemic and prioritize people who are not yet accessing life-saving HIV services.
#HIV/AIDS
#FreeHIVScreening
#EndInequalitiesEnd AIDS
#MueaMarket
#RTG
#KatchouaFoundation
