[afro-nets] Course Announcement: Integrated HIV/AIDS prevention care and treatment course

Course Dates:
2 March - 20 March 2009 (3 weeks)
31 August - 18 September 2009 (3 weeks)

Course Fees: US$900

Target Audience

The course is designed for a multi-disciplinary team of healthcare workers who play an important role in the comprehensive care of HIV infected person(s). These include doctors, nurses, counsellors, pharmacists, clinical officers, laboratory technicians, community health workers etc.

Purpose of the course

By the end of this course, participants should demonstrate knowledge, skills and attitudes requisite to provision of comprehensive care of PLWAs including counselling and testing, preventive therapies, diagnosis and treatment of opportunistic infections, rational use of antiretroviral agents, care of children and women infected with HIV/AIDS and some programmatic issues in HIV/AIDS care.

Overall goal

To develop knowledge, skills and attitudes of health care service providers requisite to the provision of comprehensive care of PLWAs.

Objectives of this course

By the end of the course, trainees will be able to:

* Explain the epidemiology of HIV infection, the dynamics of HIV transmission and its effects on the host
* Understand counseling, HIV-testing and psychosocial support
* Describe the common opportunistic infections seen in HIV-infected persons, their clinical presentations and management.
* Understand common preventive therapies used in the management of HIV-infected adults
* Explain the rational use of antiretroviral agents,
* Describe HIV infection in children, its care and treatment
* Comprehend the risk of mother to child HIV transmission and the interventions used in Kenya to reduce its risks
* Set up comprehensive care for HIV/AIDS patients through the involvement of all multidisciplinary team and other support organizations
* Discuss home based care and palliative care
* Give an overview of the main elements of Commodity Management
that will ensure the availability and accessibility of safe, high
quality and efficacious ART commodities
* Describe ethical and legal issues in care of PLWAs
* Understand blood safety and the rationale use of blood in the
HIV/AIDS era
* Comprehend Post Exposure Prophylaxis and the Universal precautions
* Explain how to monitor and evaluate activities in comprehensive care of PLWHA

Course organisation

Module 1: Introduction to HIV/AIDS

Session 1: History and Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS
Session 2: Natural History of HIV infection
Session 3: Laboratory Diagnosis of HIV Infection
Session 4: Antiretroviral Agents: Classification, modes of action, side effects
Session 5: Practicum/Case studies

Module 2: Introduction to Counseling and Psychosocial Support of PLWAs

Session 1: Principles of counseling
Session 2: Introduction to VCT and DTC
Session 3: Addressing stigma and discrimination
Session 4: Practicum/case studies

Module 3: Medical care of adults and adolescents with HIV/AIDS

Session 1: The Comprehensive Care Concept, Principles of Chronic Care
Session 2: HIV associated conditions: Management and Preventive strategies

* Fever in HIV/AIDS
* Gastrointestinal Conditions in HIV/AIDS
* Respiratory Conditions in HIV/AIDS
* Neurological Conditions in HIV/AIDS
* Dermatological manifestations of HIV
* HIV related cancers

Session 3: Integrating prevention and care
Session 4: Antiretroviral therapy in adults and adolescents

* Initiating HAART (Evaluation, Standard Treatment Regimens)
* The clinical laboratory for HIV/AIDS care in resource limited settings
* Managing side-effects of antiretroviral therapy
* Adherence monitoring and counseling

Session 5: Practicum/case studies

Module 4: Special Issues in Managing Women with HIV/AIDS

Session 1: Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission
Session 2: ART in Women
Session 3: Practicum/case studies

Module 5: HIV/AIDS in children

Session 1: Epidemiology of pediatric HIV
Session 2: Special considerations in the diagnosis of HIV in children
Session 3: Natural History of HIV infection in children
Session 4: Antiretroviral therapy in children
Session 5: Practicum/case studies

Module 6: Blood safety, Universal Precautions and Post-exposure prophylaxis

Session 1: Blood safety and rational use of blood and blood products in the HIV/AIDS era
Session 2: Universal precautions
Session 3: PEP

Module 7: Supportive Care of PLWAs - Palliative Care, Home-based care,
Nutrition

Session 1: Palliative Care
Session 2: HBC
Session 3: Nutrition

Module 8: Ethical, legal and programmatic issues in HIV/AIDS Care

Session 1: Ethical and legal issues in care of PLWAs
Session 2: Commodity management for HIVS/AIDS programs
Session 3: Monitoring and Evaluation of HIV/AIDS program interventions

Apply Online on the link;
http://www.amref.org/info-centre/short-courses-application-form/
Download the short courses application form on link;
http://www.amref.org/silo/files/amref-short-course-application-form.doc

OR Contact the following persons:

Lydia Manoti on
mailto:Lydia.Manoti@amref.org
or Training@amref.org <mailto:Training@amref.org>

Nicholas Kiambi on
mailto:Nicholas.Kiambi@amref.org
WEBSITE: http://www.amref.org/

Joan Mutero on
mailto:Joan.Mutero@amref.org