Participatory evaluation of counselling, medical and social services of The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) in Uganda

Abstract

The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) is an indigenous non-governmental organization (NGO) of HIV-infected and affected people in Uganda. TASO provides counselling, social support, medical and nursing care for opportunistic infections at 7 centres affiliated to district hospitals in Uganda. Between 1993 and 1994, the services provided by TASO were evaluated through a participatory approach between staff and clients. TASO counselling services helped clients and their families to cope with HIV and AIDS, with 90.4% of clients revealing their serostatus, and 57.2% reporting consistent use of condoms in the past 3 months. TASO was also the main source of medical care for clients with opportunistic infections in the last 6 months (63.8%). As a result of counselling, over half of the clients (56.9%) made plans for the future and 51.3% wished to make wills. There was a high level of acceptance of people living with HIV/AIDS (PWAs) by families (79%) and the community (76%). Care was provided to PWAs at home mainly by women (86.2%). TASO has demonstrated that individuals and their families are able to live positively with HIV/AIDS. Through counselling, medical care and material support to clients and their families, TASO has effected change in people's attitudes, knowledge and lifestyles. In particular, TASO has demonstrated a strong capacity to overcome four problems that haunt AIDS care in most places: (1) revealing one's HIV-serostatus to relevant others; (2) accepting PWAs in family and community; (3) seeking early treatment; and (4) combining prevention and care. In general, TASO has shown that specialized services to meet AIDS care needs can be added to existing health services at district levels. As a result of the participatory evaluation, a well-accepted monitoring system was established.

Who are good home-based care volunteers?

“…Kaleeba et al identified caretakers as mostly female, with 37% being farmers and 21% being unemployed. 1 This corresponds well with the findings of this survey, in which most active volunteers were women and had some form of regular income (e.g. their husbands were employed).…”

“…They found that 86% were female, 50% had seven years or more of education, 37% were farmers and 21% were unemployed. 1 Catherine Marenga described that volunteers in Zimbabwe are mostly experienced women who work in their own neighbourhoods. They were mostly involved in healthrelated volunteer work before starting to do Aids support.…”

References

“…The response to AIDS has in Uganda been characterised by openness and political support from all levels of government, and internationally recognised Ugandan NGOs have been key players in promoting the discourse of openness and in helping people to "live positively with AIDS". tASO (The AIDS Support Organisation), founded in 1987, is one of the best known of these (see for example Kaleeba et al 1997). Being able to join tASO has until recently been the most commonly mentioned reason for getting an hIv test done.…”

The Impact of HIV Education on the Lives of Ugandan Nurses and Nurse-Midwives

“…There was no intention to evaluate the education program itself; it has been described and evaluated elsewhere. 30,31 Rather, the intent was to learn about its relevance and impact from the perspective of those nurses who participated.…”