HIV/AIDS Department 

The HIV department is one of the key areas in HCOMH providing HIV prevention, care and treatment services. The department is supported externally by funds from IDI our implementing partner under the Kampala HIV programme (KHP).

Services provided in the HIV department include but are not limited  

• HIV testing services

• Post Exposure Prophylaxis

• Cervical cancer screening

• Recency testing

• Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT)

• Lifelong ART refill

• T.B diagnosis & treatment

• Nutrition assessment

• Viral load

• Advanced HIV disease management

In Uganda, the HIV prevalence rate among adults according to a report by Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) is 5.5% i.e., 6.8% among females and 3.9% among males. According to the Uganda AIDS commission report (2021), the estimated number of people living with HIV (PLHIV) is 1,400,000. Our facility ART clinic is a contributor to this data nation serving a total of 1794 clients living with HIV i.e., 629 males (35%) and 1165 female clients (65%), 60 pediatrics and adolescents (3.3%), 133 pregnant and lactating mothers (7.4%).

The clinic has engaged in HIV-targeted testing and was able to test 3154 clients (1997 females and 1157 males). Of the tested clients, 139 clients were identified as positive clients (4.4% yield) with 84 females and 55 clients. These statistics show that there is a higher uptake of HIV testing services among female clients than among males. We also tested a total of 65 babies using PCR test have achieved zero positivity symbolizing exceptional monitoring of children born to HIV-positive mothers in the HCOMH ART clinic/HIV department.

In the last financial year (2021/2022), the ART clinic we have continued to strengthen the uptake of Differentiated Service Delivery Models to improve services to clients (graph shown below). Integration of nutrition in ART service delivery was also a major emphasis on People Living with HIV (PLHIV) with support from Family Health International (FHI 360⁰). We were supported with nutrition assessment equipment like; weighing scales, MUAC tapes, IEC materials, Job Aids among others to improve our nutrition assessment. With the help of these materials, we managed to assess all 1786 clients on ART to so as to monitor their health.