Harare, Zimbabwe - 07 October 2009 - Southern African HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS) in collaboration with Irish Aid and Zimbabwe AIDS Network (ZAN) will next week hold a meeting for policy makers, donors, international organisations and practitioners in the field of community home-based care, to look at the successes and challenges of home-based care in Zimbabwe over the past 10 years. 
While community home-based care has become a familiar concept in the country over the past few years as a result of the large incidence of HIV related illness, compounded by the virtual collapse of the health sector, it is not without its challenges.  
There is no doubt that community home-based care has emerged as a critical vanguard in the overall response to HIV and tuberculosis in Zimbabwe. A key lesson learnt from implementing home-based care programmes over the years is, that with appropriate structures in place, it is possible to look after people in their homes and communities and not only in hospitals and clinics.
However it is older people, particularly older women, who are playing the key role in taking care of people living with HIV in their communities and families yet the existing home-based care packages include little to address the specific needs of older people. It has also been established that home-based care programmes have very little focus on youth, despite the fact that young people often find themselves taking care of the sick, mostly their parents or siblings.
“For community home-based care to be effective, there must be appropriate structures in place to run programmes,” says SAfAIDS Executive Director Mrs Lois Chingandu.
 
The meeting, which will take place on the 13th of October, under the title “Taking Forward the National Community Home-Based Care Programme,” will be held at Rainbow Towers from 10:
am to 1: pm.

According to Mrs Chingandu, the main objectives of the half-day meeting are to provide an overview of the community home-based care(CHBC) research findings documented in 2007, and to review the status of the CHBC programme in Zimbabwe over the last decade, looking at successes and challenges.
“The meeting will also seek to highlight the key programming issues on CHBC in the era of antiretroviral therapy, and bring practitioners in the field of community home-based care together to map a way forward in the current Zimbabwe context,” she said.
SAfAIDS in collaboration with Irish Aid and Zimbabwe AIDS Network, in 2007, implemented a project assessing and documenting good practices in community home-based care interventions in Zimbabwe and drawing out key lessons. The project entailed research and documentation of eight home-based care programmes in the country, as well as the development of a policy primer. 
This document, which can be used to guide HBC implementers, policy makers, regional and international organisations and donors, in designing and prioritising HBC programmes in line with other HBC policy documents, will be distributed at the end of the meeting.
The eight organisations that took part in the study of home-based care in the country are: New Dawn of Hope in Harare, the Male Empowerment Project, Dananai, Uzumba Orphan Care, the Family AIDS Caring Trust, Bekezela Home Based Care, Batsirai and the Catholic Health Care Commission.
The Minister of Health and Child Welfare Dr Henry Madzorera will officiate at the meeting, which will also be attended by officials from National AIDS Council, Irish Aid, ZAN, Red Cross and Hospaz, among others.
ENDS!
For more information please contact: Beatrice Tonhodzayi   (beatrice@safaids.org.zw)
You can also visit the SAfAIDS website www.safaids.net or the Media Resource Desk website on www.mediaresourcedesk.org or call +263 4 336193/4l