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About this project
Treating HIV & AIDS: A Training Toolkit was developed as a result of the initiative of Dr Chris Ouma, a Kenyan doctor who began training health care workers in Kenya using an edition of NAM’s UK HIV & AIDS Treatments Training Manual in 2002. At the time he was working in the HIV programme of Action Aid, the international development NGO.
Dr Ouma and colleagues evaluated the original edition and asked us to develop a training manual that could support the introduction of antiretroviral treatment in resource-limited settings.
During 2003 we sought the advice of two groups of doctors at the forefront of delivering ARV treatment in resource-limited settings. The first group are doctors providing in-service training at medical facilities in Botswana, one of the first countries to implement a national ARV treatment programme. They reviewed modules that are included in this toolkit and evaluated them for relevance to the proposed audiences. They also reviewed the content for medical accuracy and made suggestions for additional material.
The second group comprised doctors in South Africa already implementing programmes for prevention of mother to child transmission and basic care for HIV-positive people. They provided detailed guidance on key issues that should be included in the training of health care workers for a variety of modules, and gave permission for chapters published in the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society Handbook of HIV Medicine to be used as the basis for development of a number of modules.
We also received valuable input from members of the medical advisory panel for NAM’s electronic newsletter on HIV treatment in resource-limited settings, HIV & AIDS Treatment in Practice.
From the outset, Carolyn Greene provided valuable advice and insight into the design of the training programme. Her experience of medical training in resource-limited settings, especially around HIV and the rational use of essential drugs, informed the approach that we took.
The writing and editing was carried out by Theo Smart in South Africa and Keith Alcorn, NAM’s Senior Editor, in London.
Evaluation
We were unable to evaluate the complete Training Toolkit in the field due to lack of timely financial support. Since the need for training is so urgent, we have decided to make this version of the training toolkit available immediately.
If you use this training toolkit to organise a training event, please send back an evaluation report using the form supplied with this toolkit. This information will help us in developing new versions of these modules
Registration
We have asked everyone who downloads these materials to register with us, both so that we can build up a picture of who is using the training toolkit, but more importantly, so that we can alert you to new versions of modules, or the addition of new modules to the toolkit.
We also ask users to sign up to receive the electronic newsletter HIV & AIDS Treatments in Practice, and to encourage those they train to do the same. HIV & AIDS Treatments in Practice is intended to support health care workers with up to date information on HIV treatment and care in resource-limited settings, including information on the development and planning of treatment programmes. HIV & AIDS Treatments in Practice is directed by an advisory panel of doctors working in resource-limited settings, and is published twice a month.
Copyright and adaptation
We strongly encourage adaptation of these materials for local purposes in resource-limited settings.
If you want to adapt these materials for local purposes, please contact us to obtain an editable copy of the Powerpoint slidesets, and tell us something about your project. Your experience in adapting the materials will provide valuable lessons that will improve future editions.