The project is divided into four components:
HIV/AIDS clinic at the Andersen Medical Centre, which provides:
- Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) for HIV and AIDS
- Provision of information on HIV and AIDs to individuals
- Giving lessons on HIV/AIDS
- Treating AIDS patients with ART (Anti Retroviral Therapy)
- Monitoring HIV positive patients using a CD4 cel counter
Mobile clinics
The mobile clinics regularly visit the villages, goverment farms and schools in the surrounding area. They raise awareness of the causes and effects of HIV infection, carry out HIV testing and, if necessary, refer HIV infected patients to the AIDS clinic for further tests and treatment (x-rays, blood tests, CD4).
There are about 30 locations in Kenya and Uganda that are visited by 4 team members. The pick up truck is loaded with a generator, TV video, tables, chairs, testing materials and the necessary paperwork. Each visit takes around 4 hours, in which they are able to test around 150 people. Demand for these visits is very high.
Orphanage for children whose parents have died of AIDS
Because AIDS has grown to epidemic proportions in this area of Africa, many children have already lost their parents. Other family members take the children into their own care, but the sheer number of orphans often makes this impossible. The community requested help for the most desperate cases, so they set up an orphanage in 2008.
Nutritional programme
The most important aspect of health care for AIDS patients is nutrition. The medication cannot work if the body cannot build up strength with adequate feeding. A nutritional programme has therefore been set up which teaches patients about a suitable diet for a weakened immune system. AIDS patients are provided with a small garden where they can grow the right sort of fruit and vegetables, and lessons are given on natural means of combating the disease.
