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Training of Field Officers in TCE Yuexi

Source:Humana People to People ChinaDate:2016-11-15 00:00:00Click:779
TCE (Total Control of the Epidemic) Yuexi is a one year HIV/AIDS program funded by China Association of STD and AIDS Prevention and Control (CASAPC) running from the 7th of April 2016 to the 31st of March 2017 covering a population of 20,000 people.

The main objective of the project is to promote and advocate for improving testing and reaching the 90-90-90 goals through collaboration between local health agencies and social organizations, improve the awareness of HIV, spread knowledge and prevent the spread of the disease as well as advocate and promote effective home-based testing strategies. The project thus uses a method of one-on-one, door-to-door visits to all resident villagers reaching them with health education, mobilization and voluntary home-based counselling and testing. The campaign is further carried out through mobilization of the local community to be a part of a Passionate network. Local leaders and influential people are also mobilized and trained together with the Passionates[1] Network and they will support through information dissemination and mobilization work. The project also focuses on the prevention of Mother-to-Child transmission and improvement of hospital delivery rates.

To start up the project the office staff met with the Yuexi County Health Bureau, discussed about 3 Townships to be covered and how to organize. The 3 townships are Naituo Township, Matuo Township and Darui Township[M1] . On the 13th and 14th of April the project office staff carried out job interviews in the 3 Townships where 7 people: 5 men and 2 women, were selected to be TCE Field Officers.

From the 25th of May to the 9th of June the office staff did the 15 days initial training of the 7 selected Field Officers[2] focusing mainly on theoretical knowledge. The training consisted of introducing the Field Officers to Humana People to People, given basic facts about HIV/AIDS, knowledge about Sexually Transmitted Infections, the TCE Field Officer Manual, TCE tools and how to carry out community mobilization. To have a most effective training for the newly recruited Field Officers the project invited Yang Zhengqiang, a Troop Commander[3] for TCE Butuo to come and give training to the Field Officers based on his experience in the TCE program there. On the 7th and 8th of May the Field Officers went out into the villages for practical training where they introduced the program to the villagers.

For the Field Officers to be qualified for doing home testing they also underwent training in both theory and practice which was given by the Yuexi County Health Department who also coordinated with the Yuexi County CDC (Center of Disease Prevention and Control). The CDC personnel trained the Field Officers about the AIDS epidemic, about prevention, about rapid testing and on how to mobilize and educate pregnant women about giving birth at the hospital instead of doing it at home. The project was then launched on the 9th of June after the completion of the field officer training.

After the initial training the 7 Field Officers started their work in the field, reaching out to the community and mobilizing them for HIV testing. The Field Officers have so far been engaged in several actions were they are mobilizing pregnant women to go for ante-natal health checks, furthermore testing for HIV and advocating for safe sex practices. They also started mobilizing the villagers to join the TCE Passionate Network so that they can support the Field Officers in their day-to-day mobilization and spreading of information. The Troop Commander Agen Riga has been busy in the field, providing support to the Field Officers and to monitor the progress of the field activities.

A group photo after the official launch of TCE Yuexi

Initial training for TCE Field Officers

Yang Zhenqiang (TCE Butuo Troop Commander) giving training

Agen Riga (Troop Commander TCE Yuexi) giving training

Field Officers practicing how to do home based testing

A Field Officer reaching out to the community

The Troop Commander Agen Riga demonstrating how to give lessons in the community

Wuli Yishengzi, a Field Officer explaining to some women in the village

A Field Officer distributing HIV/AIDS pamphlets

This project is funded by China Association of STD and AIDS Prevention and Control (www.aids.org.cn)

Content in this article reflects the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the funder.


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