Chronically ill and HIV/AIDS Patients

This program provides at-home medical services, support, and counseling to individuals living with HIV in our villages. Such care includes physical, psychological, social, and spiritual support. Malawi continues to face an acute shortage of medicine and medical supplies in most government-owned health facilities. Often people living with HIV/AIDS are the major victims since they are susceptible to diseases as their immune system is often compromised.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has placed a large burden on public health facilities in Malawi that are already functioning with limited resources. Without sufficient primary health care infrastructures, our communities depend on pharmaceuticals as the principal defense against debilitating diseases. Yet the distribution of pharmaceuticals within many government hospitals is severely inadequate to meet the health care needs of large sectors of the population, particularly those persons living in rural areas. In response to this, this program provides off-the-shelf medicine and medical supplies to communities to enable HIV/AID patients to have easy access to medicine and medical aid. The medication provided prevents unnecessary complications and deaths.

HIV/AIDS has significant impacts on nutrition at the individual and household levels. At the individual level, it accelerates the vicious cycle of inadequate dietary intake due to disease. HIV infection raises nutrient requirements and erodes the immune system, thus increasing vulnerability to other diseases. At the household level, HIV/AIDS is likely to diminish the capacity to ensure food security, which in turn may lead to a worsening in nutritional status. To help mitigate the nutritional impact of HIV/AIDS, this program provides food packs to needy patients and people living with HIV to support their adherence to medicine.

Off the shelve medicine