Botswana
Spotlight: HIV Needs Assessment of Female Sex Workers
In 2007, I-TECH completed an HIV needs assessment in collaboration with BOTUSA and a local partner, the Matshelo Community Development Association. The objective of this assessment was to understand the current risks for HIV infection and access to relevant HIV prevention and treatment services for female sex workers (FSW) in Botswana. The results of this assessment may enable the government of Botswana, the United States government, and other partners working at national, district, and community levels to identify interventions that may help reduce the risk of HIV infection and transmission among FSW.
Overview
I-TECH has been working in Botswana since 2004 to build capacity for addressing Botswana's HIV/AIDS epidemic. In collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Global AIDS Program in Botswana (BOTUSA), the Botswana Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Local Government, and the University of Botswana, I-TECH builds human and institutional capacity in training and strategic information. I-TECH's vision in Botswana is to enhance health care worker skills development through in-service and pre-service training. I-TECH provides technical assistance across the private and public sectors as it works to ensure that health care providers deliver high-quality care for all HIV/AIDS patients in Botswana.
Program Highlights
Developing Human Capacity in Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). Since 2004, I-TECH has supported the AIDS/STI Unit of the Ministry of Health (MOH) in two major areas: syndromic management of STIs, and clinical mentoring for STI care. I-TECH has supported the development and dissemination of revised STI syndromic management guidelines and training materials in Botswana and the rollout of this training for public and private health care providers and nursing school faculty nationwide. I-TECH has supported the MOH/STI Unit to pilot STI clinical mentoring activities in five districts with the plan to expand the mentoring activities to an additional five districts in 2008.
Strengthening Pre-service and In-service Training in Laboratory Science. I-TECH is working with the Ministry of Health, the Institute of Health Sciences (IHS), the University of Botswana, and other stakeholders to develop a training program to upgrade diploma-holding medical laboratory technicians to medical laboratory scientists with bachelor's degrees. The goal is to equip medical laboratory technicians in Botswana with enhanced management skills and competencies to perform more complicated testing procedures essential for diagnosis of HIV infection in infants, and initiation and monitoring of antiretroviral treatment. I-TECH is also developing an in-service training curriculum in hematology.
Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation Systems. Systematic data collection on the national response to HIV/AIDS is critical to ensuring accountability, program improvement, and appropriate policy formulation and resource allocation. To build monitoring and evaluation (M&E) capacity, the Ministry of Local Government, with support from BOTUSA, hired 44 recent university graduates to work as M&E officers in each district in Botswana. I-TECH supports collaborative development and implementation of an intensive training and mentoring plan to ensure the M&E officers are prepared with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to fulfill their duties. This plan also seeks to instill in the M&E officers the importance of data utility for local decision making at the district level.
Building In-service TB/HIV Training Capacity. Since 2007, I-TECH has worked with the Botswana National Tuberculosis Program (BNTP) to develop capacity among Batswana health care providers to manage tuberculosis (TB) and HIV coinfections. This includes the development of TB-HIV clinical curricula for both medical officers and nurses based upon the revised Botswana TB Manual. In 2008, I-TECH is supporting BNTP to develop a comprehensive training plan, finalize the training curricula, and roll out trainings for both medical officers and nurses.
Building Capacity to Analyze Data on the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT). In May 2008, I-TECH engaged the University of Botswana to provide training to the PMTCT Unit of the MOH on the use of statistical software for data analysis of HIV. The goal is to ensure high-quality data. I-TECH is also working with the PMTCT Unit on several other activities related to data quality, including the piloting and roll-out of new data collection tools.
Training Materials and Products
- Botswana National Tuberculosis Programme Manual Training for Nursing Officers
- Botswana National Tuberculosis Programme Manual Training for Medical Officers
- Management of Sexually Transmitted Infections curriculum
- Facilitator Guide, Participant Handbook (PDF), Clinical Photo Reference Guide (PDF), and Reference Manual (PDF)
- Sensitive Female Pelvic Exam demonstration video
- STI Trigger Scenarios video
- The Possibilities: Routine HIV Testing in Botswana video
