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Psychosocial Support for People Living with HIV/AIDS. OSI Network Public Health Palliative Care Initiative, Kiev 25-28 February 2004 Virginia O’Dell WHO, Geneva. What is psychosocial support?.
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Psychosocial Support for People Living with HIV/AIDS OSI Network Public Health Palliative Care Initiative, Kiev 25-28 February 2004 Virginia O’Dell WHO, Geneva
What is psychosocial support? Psychosocial support addresses the psychological and social problems of HIV infected individuals, their partners, families and caregivers
Why is psychosocial support important? Because HIV infection • affects all dimensions of a person’s life • can result in stigma and fear • can result in loss of socioeconomic status, employment, income, housing, etc.
Why is psychosocial support important? Because support • helps to address the practical problems with which people are faced • helps to address the stress of HIV infection and to prevent more serious mental health problems • can help with adherence to treatment
Ensuring support is provided Develop guidelines and training for psychosocial care: • include in national guidelines for care • incorporate in curriculum of all health professionals • training courses for community volunteers • develop strategies for specific groups
Ensuring support is provided Develop services for HIV infected people: • assess what is available • enlist help from peer and community groups • link existing and developing services • build community capacity through training and financial support
Human resources needed • Train existing health care workers • Use both pre- and in-service training • Train volunteers to augment health care personnel
Infrastructure and supplies needed • Space for consultations (to ensure privacy) • Medications (review essential drugs list) • Review interactions between medications and antiretroviral therapy (when provided)
Cost of providing psychosocial support • Little information available (cost limited if training provided as part of overall health worker education) • perhaps we should rather ask the cost of not providing psychosocial support