Country watch: Zambia
AIDS health promotion exchange 1991(1): 7-8
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 1013-7785 PMID: 12284505 Document Number: 297665
The AIDS Care and Prevention Program of the Chikankata Hospital in southern Zambia serves as an examples of home-based care to other African hospitals. The program includes medical and nursing care, material and emotional support for patients and families, community counseling, and the idea of communities counseling other communities. As such, a similar program is under development in the Mpika district by the Chilonga Mission Hospital. It, too, incorporates health education for the community, counseling, and home-based care. Health talks, role plays, drama shows, and video and slide shows form the education component. Generally held at schools, target audiences are, nonetheless, widely diverse. Counseling efforts focus upon counselor training, with counselors including priests and nuns. They are taught to counsel during the pre-test stage, for crisis intervention, and for problem-solving. Finally, home visits are provided by members of the home-care team to AIDS patients as well as to those afflicted with other illnesses.