I-TECH Mozambique Completes HIV Reference Manual
Recently, the new Manual de Referencia (Reference Manual) on the clinical evaluation, care and management of an HIV positive patient has been approved by the Mozambique Ministry of Health (MISAU). The intended audience for this manual is the técnicos de medicina who have participated in the clinical mentoring program and for those taking the pre-service Disciplina de Avaliação e Manejo dos Doentes com HIV/ SIDA (formerly known as ATOMM – AIDS/TB/OI/malaria/malnutrition pre-service 4 week discipline). The reference manual is also for clinical mentors to use as a technical reference guide.
I-TECH Mozambique's main objective is to build capacity within the Ministry of Health (MISAU) to address the shortage of personnel qualified to diagnose and treat individuals with HIV and AIDS. Central to this effort is the training and mentoring of health care workers, particularly técnicos de medicina (which are similar to physician assistants) to provide quality HIV and AIDS care and treatment.
Recently, the I-TECH-developed Manual de Referencia (Reference Manual) on the clinical evaluation, care and management of HIV infected patients has been approved by the Ministry of Health. The intended audience for this manual are the técnicos de medicina who have participated in the clinical mentoring program and those taking the pre-service Disciplina de Avaliação e Manejo dos Doentes com HIV/ SIDA (formerly known as ATOMM). The manual is also for clinical mentors to use as a technical reference guide.
As an accompaniment to these courses, 25 new clinical algorithms were developed by a team of clinicians in Seattle and Mozambique. The algorithms range from symptom-based tools (fever, cough, diarrhea) to those designed to help técnicos evaluate when, and whether, to initiate treatment.
The approval and dissemination of these materials represents the fruit of over 2 years of collaboration between I-TECH Seattle and Mozambique teams, the Ministry of Health, and partners.
The Disciplina de Avaliação e Manejo dos Doentes com HIV/SIDA course is currently being rolled out in various provinces in Mozambique for the first time to recently graduated técnicos de medicina.
After finalization later this year, these materials will be available in I-TECH's Clinical Training Materials Database.
