COTAA
(COMMUNITY TOGETHER AGAINST AIDS)A community HIV/AIDS Project
Goal : To relieve the
suffering of those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS and reduce
the pandemic by 4% by the year 2008.
One reason AIDS has remained slippery and tricky is the way it
is handled and the stigma that goes with it. The Hospitals and
health centers for testing and treatment of HIV/ AIDS are very
limited. So in communities like Kamwenge district, where there
is no single hospital, women and the youth may not afford the
transport fare needed to travel to the hospital. Also when
people go to these health providing centres, the way they are
treated may prevent their going back. Sometimes the nurses are
rather unfriendly, there is no privacy, no confidentiality and
no empathy. Parents Concern plans to have Home Based care and
support to persons living with HIV/AIDS and those affected like
orphans, widows, widowers and those who take care of the
terminally sick, but much more have home based VTC. If the
testing and counseling is done at home many more people would
test for HIV. A special clinic/ hospital is necessary for
handling patients living with HIV/AIDS.
Advocacy for awareness and popularizing VCT and PMTCT will
protect the unborn baby from contracting HIV/AIDS from the
mother. At all levels women are vulnerable because of their poor
economic levels. For every project that involves the youth and
women vocational training and income generation is a factor. So
there is need to train them in skills like ICT, Tailoring,
carpentry, simple cookery, brick making/laying, animal/ crop
husbandry and others ; at different levels for employment,
personal use and self esteem. Different strategies are used for
passing on information to create awareness. So in a community
setting it is important to promote and support Dance and Drama
for use in disseminating information on prevention and control
of HIV/AIDS, STIs, unwanted pregnancies and stigma that goes
with them. Grants, revolving funds and cooperatives have proved
helpful to women groups and the yout
