09 Dec 2013

The twinning partnership between Tebelopele and Kenyan Liverpool VCT Care and Treatment (LVCT) that strengthened the capacity of Tebelopele has come to an end.

The 2007 partnership, which was facilitated by the American International Health Alliance (AIHA) and funded by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), aimed at improving the quality of HIV counselling services in Botswana.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, the director of the Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care, Dr Lefeletse Lebelonyane said twinning partnerships established an effective framework for building sustainable institutional and human-resource capacity through open exchange of knowledge, information and professional experience.

Dr Lebelonyane said supervisors were trained to help counsellors become more aware about the way they affect and are affected by their clients. About 10 supervisors from the Ministry of Health graduated during the closing ceremony. She said that LVCT through Tebelopele has helped the Ministry of Health to adapt the supervision training toolkit which included a participant’s handbook, trainer’s manual and training curriculum. These, she said, would serve the national standards of counsellor supervision.

In her welcome remarks, Tebelopele executive director, Ms Spana Motsisi said through the 18 voluntary testing centres and targeted outreach campaigns, Tebelopele performs about 40 per cent of HIV tests annually in Botswana.

“HIV counselling and testing remains the gateway to other HIV related services such as treatment and prevention,” said Ms Motsisi.

She noted that through the “Mabogo Dinku” VCT tool kit, Tebelopele has developed a similar kit to ensure that clients tested at its centres are also screened for conditions such as alcohol, tuberculosis and cervical cancer and offered information on gender based violence.

Ms Motsisi said Tebelopele not only screens but has also developed referral networks to link clients to other service providers for further appropriate examination and treatment.

Tebelopele, she said, valued the support from the Ministry of Health, AIHA and LVCT and highlighted that their relationship would continue despite the official closure of the partnership.

The main goal of the partnership was to strengthen the capacity of Tebelopele in providing quality HIV related intervention programmes and to position it as a hub of key intervention programming, targeting key populations with Liverpool VCT providing technical assistance.

Through the partnership, Tebelopele was assisted to establish a training unit in 2009 adapting the curriculum from LVCT, which was accredited by the Botswana Training Authority. ENDS