Kusingata is a project that has the support of Aidsfonds, BP, and Amplify Change, with the aim that children and mothers living with and/or affected by HIV live healthier lives and reach their full potential. It’s implemented by N’weti, in partnership with the KIT Royal Tropical Institute, EGPAF, Paediatric - Adolescent Treatment Africa (PATA) and UNICEF, in Inhambane Province, in 3 districts, namely: Jangamo, Massinga and Morrumbene. National, provincial and district health authorities and other partners active in the implementation districts are also close collaborators of the project.
To successfully achieve the desired impact and long-term outcomes, the identified gaps in treatment and care for children and pregnant women living with HIV are both thoroughly understood and addressed in an integrated way, making use of existing community support structures such as Kusingata. Thus, it is crucial to have a strong health-user, child-centered, rights-based and equity perspective to HIV services, placing women and children as users of health services at the center and ensuring the continuum of care – locate, link, treat and retain – by supporting the entire prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) and paediatric HIV cascade: from testing (pregnant) women to detecting the final HIV status in HIV-exposed infants, and supporting those diagnosed to be living with HIV to initiate and adhere to treatment. The project also supports the target groups and communities to demand high-quality services which are appropriate to their needs.
The project interventions work in a mutually reinforcing way and are combined with research activities to best achieve the project objectives, and to create an evidence-based model that can be advocated for scale-up.
