Treatment Supporter

Job Description

The Treatment Supporter is responsible for providing client support including counselling on HIV prevention, care, and treatment, while creating a conducive environment which will aid clients’ free expression of feelings.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Conduct structured treatment literacy sessions in health facility designated areas, to create demand for HIV testing, ART initiation, adherence, viral load, retention, cervical cancer screening and other services.
• Organize community mobilization/sensitization meetings.
• Conduct screening for depression among clients accessing HIV services and refer clients with depression to psychosocial counsellors for advanced support.
• Conduct screening for eligibility to other HIV related services e.g., cervical cancer screening, PrEP, family planning, etc.
• Assist with patient referrals, escorting HIV+ clients from HIV testing services (HTS) to ART clinic, explaining why the referral was made and what services will be given at the referral point.
• Provide individual and group pre- ART initiation counselling and support to clients who are starting/restarting ART.
• Work with HDA to generate and collect the list of HIV+ clients including infants and children not linked to care after 7 days and make necessary follow ups.
• Demonstrate and implement welcome back to all returning to care.
• Align and create respective treatment buddies, in conjunction with other care and treatment supporters.
• Organize Master cards and make pre- appointment phone call reminders.
• Book clients for their next appointment.
• In liaison with data clerks, generate a list of missed appointment and document them in the follow up/ tracing register.
• Make phone call follow-ups and home tracing for missed appointment, defaulters, clients with high viral load, positive EID and others, according to respective SOPs.
• Document properly in all retention data tools on follow up reasons and results outcomes, etc.
• Facilitate referral of patients and caregivers to community-based care and support group services including OVC.
• Assess client risk and identify clients in need of psychosocial counselling during ART clinic
• Provide comprehensive individualized counselling to clients with high and moderate risk and follow up in care, based on protocol and SOPs.
• Provide intensive adherence counselling (IAC) to clients with unsuppressed viral load as guided in adherence SOP and national guidelines
• Identify and refer clients who need advanced individualized counselling services to psychosocial counsellors.
• Identify and provide support to clients who require sero -status disclosure to their partners, family members and children.
• Collaborate with community-based partners providing psychosocial support to ART clients to refer clients from community to facility and vice -versa.
• Support Psychosocial Support Groups (PSSG) and support back to care PSSG activities.
• Participate in all scheduled retention-based meetings and submit their reports, while bringing all relevant registers
• Document all sessions conducted at various service delivery points in appropriate reporting tools.
• From time to time liaise with the Health Surveillance Assistant responsible for his/her catchment area on issues related to improving service delivery and retention.
• Participate in all required trainings.

Required Qualification & Experience

• Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) with credits in Science Subjects and English.
• Certified HIV Testing Services providers (HTC Counsellors) will have added advantage
• Ability to effectively present information in both written and oral forms. Experience in working with People Living with HIV
• Ability to ride and maintain pushbikes for client tracing and facility visits.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Fluency in local languages and English is an advantage.

Apply Now