HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB are placing a huge strain on Uganda’s already fragile health system. Health centres are under-funded, under-staffed and low on morale. Information gathering has been inaccurate and non-conclusive about the fight against disease and laboratories lack equipment, qualified staff, drugs and supplies.
Evident links between the three diseases have been largely ignored. In Uganda, 50% of TB patients are infected with HIV and 30% of AIDS-related deaths are attributed to TB. It is widely acknowledged that HIV infections result in a greater risk of death from malaria and malaria infection itself leads to an increase in HIV viral load among adults and possible increased mother-to-child transmission of HIV during pregnancy.
So far, health services have concentrated on single diseases and the effectiveness of the treatment has been reduced. AMREF and AstraZeneca are working together with the Ministry of Health to develop a project to combat all three diseases together at local and national levels.
Aims of the project
Evident links between the three diseases have been largely ignored. In Uganda, 50% of TB patients are infected with HIV and 30% of AIDS-related deaths are attributed to TB. It is widely acknowledged that HIV infections result in a greater risk of death from malaria and malaria infection itself leads to an increase in HIV viral load among adults and possible increased mother-to-child transmission of HIV during pregnancy.
The main aim of the project is to create a local and national model to deal with HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB collectively - providing effective and efficient health care.
Those initially targeted to benefit from the programme will be poor and remote communities in the Luwero and Kiboga districts of central Uganda, particularly women of child-bearing age, people living with HIV/AIDS and children under the age of five.
More specific aims include:
Training health workers – In Kiboga, only 50% of staff places are filled due to lack of funding and qualified staff. AMREF will train community health workers and health staff in rural clinics to better prevent, diagnose and treat HIV, TB and malaria.
Improving efficiency and work practices in laboratories - In Luwero, funding is available for lab technicians, but there are no qualified staff available to fill these posts. AMREF will train laboratory staff to diagnose results more accurately and prevent samples from being contaminated, leading to misdiagnosis.
Improving health information management systems - Important health information is not being collected and analysed, which leads to poor planning, particularly in terms of drug supplies. The project will train health workers to gather and analyse information and use this information for better health planning, i.e ordering the correct amounts of the drugs needed.
Advocating for more integrated approach to disease – AMREF will advocate at district, national, regional and international for more integrated approaches to HIV, TB and malaria.
