The Siyayinqoba Outreach Training Programme conducts training to provide evidence-based information about HIV prevention and treatment literacy for HIV and AIDS. This information is aimed at people living with HIV/AIDS, their support structures (partners, family, friends, colleagues and health workers), and the broader community. By encouraging risk reduction through behaviour change and encouraging early testing, access to treatment, openness and adoption of safer sexual practices, these interventions seek to reduce new HIV infections and to improve health outcomes in HIV positive people. By creating positive role-models for treatment and prevention, the Siyayinqoba Outreach Training Programme seeks to reduce denial and stigma and to encourage people to take responsibility for managing their health.
The Siyayinqoba Outreach Training Programme operates in six of the nine provinces in South Africa. We also work closely with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in the Mopani District in Limpopo, and in Gert Sibande District in Mpumalanga.The primary training audience is the large cadre of community care workers who provide support functions to the health system (for example HCT counselors, adherence counselors, home based carers, TB DOTS supporters etc). By capacitating this cadre of community care workers with accurate knowledge about HIV treatment literacy and prevention, the Siyayinqoba Outreach Training Programme seeks to strengthen and support a well-functioning primary health care system and to reduce workload on professional healthcare workers through task-sharing.
The overall goal of the Siyayinqoba Outreach Training Programme is to strengthen and improve the national health system in South Africa so that it may meet people’s right to quality health, in the context of the dual epidemics of HIV and TB.
Through a dedicated training programme, the Siyayinqoba Outreach Training Programme seeks to empower individuals and South African communities with accurate information on all aspects of HIV and AIDS, thereby increasing knowledge, promoting health-seeking behaviour and impacting positively on health outcomes.