Masters Degrees (African Centre for HIV/AIDS Management)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/86827

Browse

Browsing Masters Degrees (African Centre for HIV/AIDS Management) by Author "Akpu, Murphy Onuabuchi"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The perception of health care workers and HIV-positive clients of HIV/AIDS care and treatment centres in Kogi state, North-central Nigeria, about the integrated model of HIV/AIDS service delivery
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012-12) Akpu, Murphy Onuabuchi; Davis, Burt; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Industrial Psychology. Africa Centre for HIV/AIDS Management.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The early response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Nigeria had supported the set-up of specialized stand-alone clinics as the major model of providing care and treatment service to PLWHA. Over time, several challenges have been linked with this model of service delivery for PLWHA including the exposure to HIV-associated stigma risks, the considerable burden on the already weak health system resources as well as the attendant costs of multiple referrals to clinics specializing in a small range of health services with increased potential for client loss to follow-up. In response to these issues and partly due to declining funding for HIV/AIDS programmes locally and internationally, public health practitioners are increasing advocating the use of the Integrated Clinic Model for HIV and AIDS service delivery. This model utilizes the same resources (focus on personnel, space and systems) to provide medical services to both HIV-positive clients and other patients accessing services in the hospitals. Despite opposing views expressed by advocates and opponents as regards the risk of HIV-related stigma to PLWHA, the ease of accessing or providing services and the patient outcomes of this model of service delivery, few studies have actually focused on the perceptions of those who utilize and operate this model. Hence, this study uses a simple questionnaire-based survey to assess the perceptions of health care workers and HIV-positive clients at the Kogi State Specialist Hospital in North-Central Nigeria, about the integrated model of HIV/AIDS clinic service delivery being practiced in the hospital along these three themes. Findings from the study shows that the clients and the health providers do not perceive the integrated clinic setting to increase the risk of exposure of PLWHA to HIV-related stigma but believe rather to the contrary that this model may actually reduce this risk. As regards the ease of accessing or providing services, the clients and health workers expressed a mutual belief that did not raise any major complications and actually reported a preference for this model. Also, both study groups identified positively with client outcomes of integrated clients. The main conclusion from this study is that the integrated HIV clinic model presents a workable alternative to standalone HIV and AIDS treatment clinics and can contribute to the reduction in HIV-related stigma targeted at PLHIV in the course of accessing treatment services. The major limitation of this study is the inability to compare the perceptions of clients and workers in the integrated clinics with that of similar populations in stand-alone clinics for comparative analysis.