Solthis Therapeutic Solidarity and Initiatives for Health

SIERRA LEONEFighting HIV / AIDSInfectious and emerging diseases

Context :

In Sierra Leone, where 40% of the population is under 15, HIV prevalence rose from 0.9% in 2002 to 1.4% in 2020, two-thirds of whom are women. Only less than a third (29%) of the 80,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the country were on antiretroviral treatment in 2020 (UNAIDS Sierra Leone), a far cry from the 95% target set by the international community. Eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV also remains a challenge for the country. Faced with these challenges, Sierra Leone is committed to improving the HIV response to accelerate the achievement of global HIV targets, and has already updated and developed various strategic and operational tools to guide the response, such as the National HIV Strategic Plan 2021-2025. While until now, the HIV response has been seen as a vertical program, it has also been recognized that HIV services need to be integrated with other health services in order to achieve the national goal.

Following on from the Empower, Empower 2 and NFM 3 projects, implemented by Solthis since 2016, the SHARE project aims to capitalize on Solthis‘ HIV experiences in order to generate knowledge and document good practices.

Key information :

General objective :

Strengthen healthcare services and systems and make them more user-centered.

Expected results :

• R1: Collection of best practices and evidence on Solthis’ past and present interventions to strengthen adherence, quality of care and community involvement in the fight against HIV.
• R2: The health system and the scale-up of high-impact HIV interventions in seven high-burden districts are strengthened.

Download the project file

Download the dissemination documents produced:

Policy briefs:

• Investing in human resources for health with continuing capacity building mixed strategy to improve HIV quality of care and performance in Sierra Leone.
• Investing in HIV community-led peer support groups to empower recipients of care and improve HIV quality of care in Sierra Leone.

Lessons learned :

• Solthis capacity building strategy to increase health facilities performance and HIV quality of care in Sierra Leone.
• Mentorship/coaching approach to contribute to health facilities performance and HIV quality of care in Sierra Leone.
• Support groups' pivotal role to empower recipients of care and improve HIV quality of care.

Video

• The role of support groups in improving quality of care among people living with HIV