TB/HIV CARE ASSOCIATION
Associations in Port Elizabeth

We prevent, find, and treat HIV and TB in the general population as well as in key groups such as inmates, sex workers and people who inject drugs. Condoms are still one of the most effective ways to prevent HIV as well many other sexually-transmitted infections. During the course of a year our staff can distribute more than 10 million condoms. The first step in providing care for people living with HIV and those with TB is to find them. Whether the lay counsellors are based in a clinic or are in a van, they can offer counselling and HIV prevention messaging tailored to the clients’ HIV status. Our teams also focus increasingly on not only testing, but linking people who test HIV positive, or shows signs of any other disease, to appropriate care and treatment. TB HIV Care provides this support through our community health workers; members of the local community who have been trained on home based care, TB and HIV and act as a link between the clinic and the client. Drug-resistant TB counselors provide specialised counselling and support groups to clients with DR-TB. Both children and adults are treated at Brooklyn Chest Hospital. Adults at Brooklyn Chest Hospital are provided with counselling support to assist them through the long journey of adhering to drug-resistant TB treatment, which can take two years to complete. Within the communities of the Cape Metro, the TB/HIV Care social support team works on promoting health and preventing HIV and TB through community outreaches and individual counselling sessions. If a client is experiencing challenges with a diagnosis or with staying on treatment, a clinic or one of TB/HIV Care’s mobile teams may refer the client to the social support team. We currently offer TB screening (including X-rays) and HIV testing and counselling to about 46% of all South African inmates. TB/HIV Care offers inmates TB screening as well as HIV counselling and testing services when they are admitted to a correctional centre, during biannual screening campaigns, and on release. Inmates who test HIV positive are referred to correctional services health workers for initiation onto antiretroviral treatment (ART) while those who are confirmed to have active TB, are referred for TB treatment. TB/HIV Care provides information on TB and HIV to inmates as part of HIV counselling and testing and through a peer education programme, where specific inmates are trained on TB and HIV and encouraged to share information with other inmates. TB/HIV Care also works with other partners to assess and improve methods of controlling infection within centres. Sex workers and their clients are at increased risk of HIV. However sex workers often have poor access to HIV prevention services or appropriate treatment, care and support. TB/HIV Care’s comprehensive mobile HIV prevention and wellness services are provided by teams that include a professional nurse, lay counselors and sex worker peers (those who are currently or were previously active in the sex work industry). In addition, TB/HIV Care works with the Department of Health and its clinics and health facilities to sensitize health workers to the needs of sex workers and to improve pathways into local clinics and other support structures. The Step Up Project offers health services to people who inject drugs in Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban. Our aim is to prevent or reduce HIV infections and other kinds of harm in the communities who use the Step Up Project’s services. TB/HIV Care, in partnership with OUT LGBT Well-being (OUT), have begun implementing a demonstration project to provide a package of essential HIV and other wellness services recommended by the World Health Organisation to people who inject drugs (PWID).