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| The view heading out of town |
I am based in a CMMB office in King Williams Town that is running 2 really cool projects. The first one is called Men Taking Action (MTA) which is in its 5th year! Basically, CMMB targets men in the rural communities with education surrounding HIV and urges them to discuss HIV with their families and for all of them to know their status. To accomplish this, field workers go door-to-door in the rural areas and offer free HIV testing and counseling. This method of HIV screening gives people the privacy to test in their own home (ideally making it more likely for them to find out their status). Clients receive their results in 15 mins and if they end up testing positive they are referred to treatment centers so that they can have confirmatory tests and if needed, start on meds and receive education on how to properly manage their disease. As this project has progressed it has also encompassed additional health screenings. Now, the field workers will screen people for diabetes, STIs, and hypertension all at home to help reduce the burden of getting to and from the local clinics which can be pretty far from where many of these people live.
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| Buffalo River running through Amatole |
The new project that just started a little over a month ago is a Tuberculosis program modeled after MTA. It follows the same premise, but it focuses on TB screening and sputum testing services. There have been a few kinks to work out which has made for some hectic days at the office but all in all the program is off to an amazing start and I'm really excited to see how things progress over the next year!
In closing, I FINALLY got to go out to one of the rural areas today, albeit just to quickly drop something off, so the pictures above are of the scenery we passed while driving out to the clinic. Oh and dont worry, I have been promised many more longer trips out to where all the action happens, so more amazing photos to come!
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| Houses on the hills of Ndevana |
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