Global HIV/AIDS Partnership with Centro de Salud in Esteli, Nicaragua
Esteli's Centro de Salud public health clinic is home to a dedicated team of health workers who help prevent HIV, offer testing, take care of individuals and families in the community living with HIV and help train other health workers in HIV basics. This is no small feat in a country where there is abundance of social stigma and misinformation about the disease, shortage of testing supplies and a dearth of HIV medications.
This partnership commenced in 2008 as a collaboration between HIV health providers at Erie Family Health Center in Chicago that included Angie Rogers, Dr Rachel O'Mara and Dr Chad Harris and the HIV team at Centro de Salud in Esteli, Nicaragua. With assistance from ICAS/Juntos Adelante and generous funding from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s Global AIDS Micro-Grants Initiative (2008-2011), the partnership supports the efforts of Nicaraguan health workers to improve the public health infrastructure. It provides medical professionals and community health workers greater access to the tools, equipment/supplies and knowledge necessary to address the challenges of HIV in their community.
The partnership facilitates innovative collaborations between the government health system, community organizations and private clinics that are engaged in HIV/AIDS education, outreach and prevention. Centro de Salud nurses will go with a community NGO to a presentation on sexually transmitted infections to cigar factory workers and then can offer HIV tests on the spot. The approach of meeting people where they live through an organization they trust enables health workers to reach individuals at greatest risk.
Continued Need
There is a clearly demonstrated need to expand HIV/AIDS education and prevention efforts in Nicaragua. Social conditions such as gender inequality, gender-based violence and a lack of HIV/AIDS education prevent women and girls from being able to make and enforce choices when it comes to sex and condom use. It is culturally acceptable for young men to have multiple sexual partners. Stigma and fear keep many people from getting tested for HIV and those who are diagnosed are often very late stage when they present to the hospital with opportunistic infections. According to the Nicaraguan government's most recently published statistics there are a total of 8,813 individuals living with HIV in the country. The overall prevalence rate is <1% but among some subgroups of the population, such as men who have sex with men, it is much higher (7.5%).
In recent years ICAS/Juntos Adelante has continued to offer financial and material support to the HIV team at Centro de Salud but are also actively looking another organization to partner with or grant funding source to help expand on the excellent work being done in Esteli. To donate to this project or if you have ideas on partnering or funding opportunities please let us know. Thank you!
Esteli's Centro de Salud public health clinic is home to a dedicated team of health workers who help prevent HIV, offer testing, take care of individuals and families in the community living with HIV and help train other health workers in HIV basics. This is no small feat in a country where there is abundance of social stigma and misinformation about the disease, shortage of testing supplies and a dearth of HIV medications.
This partnership commenced in 2008 as a collaboration between HIV health providers at Erie Family Health Center in Chicago that included Angie Rogers, Dr Rachel O'Mara and Dr Chad Harris and the HIV team at Centro de Salud in Esteli, Nicaragua. With assistance from ICAS/Juntos Adelante and generous funding from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s Global AIDS Micro-Grants Initiative (2008-2011), the partnership supports the efforts of Nicaraguan health workers to improve the public health infrastructure. It provides medical professionals and community health workers greater access to the tools, equipment/supplies and knowledge necessary to address the challenges of HIV in their community.
The partnership facilitates innovative collaborations between the government health system, community organizations and private clinics that are engaged in HIV/AIDS education, outreach and prevention. Centro de Salud nurses will go with a community NGO to a presentation on sexually transmitted infections to cigar factory workers and then can offer HIV tests on the spot. The approach of meeting people where they live through an organization they trust enables health workers to reach individuals at greatest risk.
Continued Need
There is a clearly demonstrated need to expand HIV/AIDS education and prevention efforts in Nicaragua. Social conditions such as gender inequality, gender-based violence and a lack of HIV/AIDS education prevent women and girls from being able to make and enforce choices when it comes to sex and condom use. It is culturally acceptable for young men to have multiple sexual partners. Stigma and fear keep many people from getting tested for HIV and those who are diagnosed are often very late stage when they present to the hospital with opportunistic infections. According to the Nicaraguan government's most recently published statistics there are a total of 8,813 individuals living with HIV in the country. The overall prevalence rate is <1% but among some subgroups of the population, such as men who have sex with men, it is much higher (7.5%).
In recent years ICAS/Juntos Adelante has continued to offer financial and material support to the HIV team at Centro de Salud but are also actively looking another organization to partner with or grant funding source to help expand on the excellent work being done in Esteli. To donate to this project or if you have ideas on partnering or funding opportunities please let us know. Thank you!
