Skip to main content

Table 5 Individual CCC staff actions supporting ALH wellbeing

From: Layered vulnerability and researchers’ responsibilities: learning from research involving Kenyan adolescents living with perinatal HIV infection

CCC staff actions supporting ALH

 • Giving ALH a lead in planning outreach activities e.g., World AIDS Day

 • Planning ALH-only CCC sessions, including during out-of-school hours/at same time as support groups to save time, transport costs and reduce privacy risks

 • Waiting times at CCCs addressed by ‘fast tracking’ ALH wearing school uniforms

 • Guardians/parents allowed to collect ARVs on ALH behalf for up to 2 months; ALH allowed to collect ARVs outside prior appointment times where a valid reason given; offering flexibility in clinic appointments when ALH attend on ‘wrong’ day (e.g., set appointments clash with important school events)

 • Adjusting times when ALH take ARVs to fit in with other schedules eg., To coincide with school break times

 • Individual CCC staff supporting ALH, including through: ‘informal’ task shifting strategies to reduce queues and allowing ALH to choose which provider to talk to at CCC

 • Taking the initiative to develop and implement ART training for elderly caregivers

 • Giving ALH in boarding schools enough ARTs to last to midterm or setting up a local CCC contact near to the school

 • Supporting ALH privacy: visiting homes (on clinical indications) in the guise of a friend or selling items; suggesting ALH pad ARV bottles with cotton wool to prevent ‘rattling’ bringing attention to this medication

 • Individual ‘emergency support’ in bringing urgent ARV supplies to homes at weekends and staff giving cash from their own pockets