“HOPE Humana-New Start”

A New Start Centre has started in Ndola with funding from Society for Family Health (SFH). The aim is to promote testing at the centre as well as in remote areas through mobile testing.

What is “HOPE Humana - New Start”?

HOPE Humana - New Start is a new activity within HOPE Humana in Ndola. The New Start “brand” activity is HOPE Humana’s aggressive approach in the fight against HIV/AIDS through Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) for HIV. It has a component of static counselling and testing at the HOPE centre and that of mobile counselling and testing outside the centre. It has its own package of production tools which consist of New Start mobile tents, New Start T-shirts as uniforms, a database on a computer to capture client details daily, well stocked HIV testing compartment with all necessary materials required for testing for HIV. The package includes a mobile vehicle. The activity is a partnership programme between DAPP in Zambia and Society for Family Health (SFH) an organisation working in Zambia to advocate for prevention of HIV and mitigation of the impact also.  The other partners in this project through SFH are United States Agency for International Development (USAID), KFW (a German development bank) and the Zambian government through the Ministry of Health.

The whole idea of the New Start activity is to go into the compounds to take VCT services close to the people. This strategy helps in reaching out to many people that could otherwise fail to come to the static point at the HOPE centre because of reasons such as distance and transport and many more.

Five mornings every week a team of 5 employed counsellors from HOPE Humana Better Life Clinic go to a compound. They set up the mobile tents and prepare a desk with information about HIV/AIDS on the spot. This facility is advertised in advance in the compound before the counsellors come. Communities are mobilised through drama by youth clubs in the communities and by community Active HOPE Advocates (AHAs). We also work close with health facilities (community clinics) under the Ministry of Health. We secure that people are mobilised before we come and we make sure we are there in time to give the service.

A person who comes for VCT will receive pre-counselling (a period when the person is mobilised for the actual counselling through getting information about HIV/AIDS and advantages of getting to know the HIV status), be tested using the “rapid test”, receive post test counselling (a period when the person tested will be helped to make a positive living plan whether with or without the HIV virus) and then given the results. The process takes less than one hour.

On average 100 people are reached per day. This facility does not only end at testing for people to know their HIV status but those that have the HIV virus are referred to established HOPE Humana Positive Living Support groups.