Intervention
TB, opportunistic infections, NACOPHA
OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS
In the intervention group, a study ART nurse identified children with high viral loads, provided adherence counseling sessions and allocated the child to Konga personnel who followed-up with the child at home on a monthly basis. Three interventions were provided: adherence counseling and intensive follow-up (here, the Konga routinely visited the client’s house providing adherence counselling to the child and their caregiver by looking at barriers); follow-up screening for TB and other co-morbidities (members of the Konga visited the children, screened them for opportunistic infections and encouraged them to visit the health facility for further management); and provision of psychosocial support. The control group received the usual routine services.The National Council of People Living with HIV/AIDS(NACOPHA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization. It is a national grassroots-based organization of all individuals recognized through organized groups and clusters of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in mainland Tanzania. Since its establishment, NACOPHA has embarked on coordinating the efforts of PLHIV through their district clusters, each known as a “Konga” to address the needs of PLHIV. Hence, we used the PLHIV community to provide services to children.