Federal Ministry of Health has launched a newly developed toolkit that would, expectedly, herald improved quality of Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) services across health care facilities managing pediatric HIV.
The toolkit which was developed by Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation (EGPAF) was launched in Abuja, by the National Coordinator, National AIDS and STDs Control Programme (NASCP), Dr. Adebobola Bashorun, reports Daily Sun.
Dr. Bashorun, confirmed that the document contain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for several stages of pediatrics HIV management and response, including SOP on how conduct a link and learn sessions; endline assessments; collaborative, rapid root cause analysis of EID; baseline assessments, among several others.
He recommended that all health care facilities take hold of the toolkit for the use of their health care workers, particularly those involved in handling of HIV cases, describing it as document that would provide proper guide for responses, and ensure that they achieve the desired target.
He appreciated EGPAF and other donor partners who have consistently supported Nigeria in the fight against HIV/AIDS, culminating in the early gains that have been achieved in the fight against HIV, and thus positioning Nigeria in the right path as regards epidemic control of the disease by 2030.
Country Director of EGPAF, Dr. Nguavese Torbunde, explained that the toolkit was developed based on experiences and activities of the Foundation in Rivers and Taraba states through the EID point of care project supported by Johnson and Johnson and other partners.
She further explained that during the project implementation phase, EGPAF quality improvement colleagues compiled their tools and experiences, and began drafting the SOPs that formed the toolkit. “The draft zero of the toolkit was prepared by the end of the implementation period, and then shared with health facilities, technical reviewers, and other stakeholders for their assessment and contributions.
“Expectedly, they provided inputs that ensured that the toolkit’s content comprehensively and accurately captured the relevant experiences of the EGPAF Nigeria programme, and provided recommendations for other facilities intending to implement similar methods.”
She said the document was designed for states to enable them implement the PMTCT programmes, and specifically offering EID services. “We could suggest that any health facility offering EID can use the toolkit to improve the services they offer mothers and infants.
“However, facilities that choose to use the toolkit are encouraged to have existing quality improvement team, or better still re-activate their past team to coordinate the processes as proposed in the toolkit, so that the project will benefit from interdisciplinary contributions of diverse quality improvement members, and in addition to stakeholders be assigned responsibilities for the projects’ follow-up.”
