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Community Home-Based Care

 

Starting in one community (Dwaleni) in the Zombodze area in 2006, 32 community home-based caregivers were trained to take care of people within this rural community. Most of the clients were HIV-positive - many being terminal or dying from AIDS-related illnesses. As word of the work done by these volunteers started spreading, community leaders in other areas approached SHBC with the request to also equip people in their areas for home-based care.

 

From 2006 to June 2017 a total of 46 communities were trained to provide home-based care to community members. At present 1243 volunteer caregivers are working without receiving any stipend, taking care of more than 4600 clients across the rural areas of Shiselweni as well as the southern parts of Lubombo (Mahlabaneni and Sibovini). The death-rate among SHBC clients fell dramatically since 2008, from 35.8% in 2008 to 8.5% in 2013. UNICEF took particular note of this remarkable decline in the death rate which led to researchers at the City University of New York (USA) as well as the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Ontario (Canada) conducting a study on the reason for these dramatic results. The researchers' conclusions were published in the African Journal of AIDS Research in 2015.

 

SHBC has been described by the City University of New York as a best practice case study on effective home-based care for people with HIV and AIDS. Furthermore, the National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS (NERCHA) in Swaziland considers SHBC's reporting system for its caregiving operation as the best in the entire country.