Assessment on the Home based Care and Support Programme for Infected and Affected People with HIV/AIDS at Mekdem Ethiopia National Association in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

HIVAIDS is one of the global epidemics that has been affecting almost all countries of the world at varying magnitude and scope. The tragedy is much more felt on poor countries of Africa, Asia and South America. Millions of people have lost their lives to the HIVAIDS, millions of children lost their parents and became orphaned, the proportion of elders are today helpless and suffering from loneliness. In Ethiopia is no different and the tragedy holds true as well. However, there are several initiatives to contain the spread of the killer virus globally such as the WHO,UNAIDS, nationally such as HAPCO and locally through various NGOs . Among those NGOs, in Ethiopia Mekdim National Association (MENA) is the one that engaged in preventing and controlling the various through the new innovative approach called Home –Based Care and Support. The HBCS intervention method is undertaken through providing patients with medical, psychological and economic support at their homestead. The purpose of this particular study, therefore has attempted to make an overview on MENA’s the activities involving the provision of care and support to patients in two project sites located in Arada and Gulele Sub-Cities in the city of Addis Ababa , Ethiopia. The study is based on the quantitative approach of research undertaking so that primary data were collected from the agreed sample population of the each project sites. Information gathered were analyzed and interpreted to make the study analytical and rational for the readership. There three set of respondents that contributed their accounts for the success of the study. That are 75 patients that are directly getting the HBCS from MENA, 7 Caregivers that are directly engaged in providing patients of clients with medical, psychological and socio-economic support and a project coordinator who directly supervises the day-to-day activities of MENA’s HBCS process. In due course of the study, important findings are systematically formulated and logically presented based on the facts collected from the target groups of respondents. Equally important, logical conclusion has been made and some recommendations were suggested to take corrective measures on limitations of MENA’s HBCS in particular and to expand the practice of HBCS to other parts of Ethiopia in general. The advantages of HBCS’s to poor countries to Ethiopia, has been given a series attention on the last part of the study, where there exists an incompatible demand of patients and provision the necessary medical care support package. There it was also attempted to share the experiences of developing countries so that one can assume that such an intervention method is useful both for poor countries having financial difficulties to address public health one side and to poor patients in exempting them from medical and logistic costs.