Communities at the Front and Center of the HIV Response CATCH fully engages communities and is guided by the traditional leadership. Communities at the Front and Center of the HIV Response BRIEFING PACKAGE

HIV Road Map HIV was first diagnosed 1985 in Botswana 2 years after diagnosis the Botswana government in partnership with World Health Organisation established (WHO) established National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) and a solid plan to increase public awareness and train health workers Community Home base care programme to provide services to chronically or terminally ill people in their homes and communities

conti The epidemic continue to took hold of the country and taking its toll despite this effort By mid 1990’s the government HIV become the government priority By 2000 it was declared a national emergency , a crisis of the first magnitude , the president by then His Excellency Festus Mogae declared a country commitment to deal with the crisis(NTWA E BOLOTSE )

conti A lot had happened since 1985 to fight HIV in the country still the HIV virus is a threat 2012 a PITSO was called in Francistown for all stakeholders to come up with ideas , solutions to end the epidemic by 2016 The realization of leaving community behind was identified as a concern Recommendation during the PITSO in Francistown that a model that is bottom up should be initiated

cont. The Model Communities Acting Together To control HIV was initiated during this PITSO Pilot in South East in 2015 covering 5 five villages (Tlokweng, Ramotswa, Taung, Otse , Mogobane. Communities of the South East was trained together with the leadership of both villages

Definition Communities Acting Together to Control HIV, CATCH, is a community-driven approach led by the traditional leadership (Kgosi), harnessing and unleashing the power of the Batswana community and seeking synergies within and ownership of the HIV and health response by the community. In 2012, the National AIDS Coordinating Agency organised a National HIV Prevention Pitso (Summit) in Francistown attended by various stakeholders. The Pitso engaged community representatives in order to discuss progress in regards to HIV and come-up with ideas on how to improve HIV prevention. Based on the recommendations from the Pitso a community-driven approach was formulated, called CATCH – Communities Acting Together to Control HIV. The approach has been piloted in South East District in Botswana and has so far reached 1 year of implementation.

CATCH towards ‘my health is my responsibility’ Leadership by Dikgosi improving community acceptance Improve community ownership of health initiatives strongly supporting service uptake Uses power of existing structures (ie VDC, youth groups) Locally mobilized facilitators for sustainability Community mobilized resources (inviting service providers, focus on low-cost solutions) Improved collaboration between communities and health facilities – linking to health services Values community voice & responding to locally identified needs Open-minded approach – beyond HIV (addresses health and potentially sustainable development) The “essense” of CATCH

Community Tools and Capacity Strengthens community ties and believe in their own capacity to resolve health concerns and issues beyond Strength-based approach through household-visits & revisits Trains and provides tools for community to identify community challenges and plan for local solutions

Community Dashboard

Indirect catalyst towards 90-90-90 CATCH introduced Indirect catalyst towards 90-90-90 Improved uptake of HIV testing Strengthened condom distribution Signs of improved treatment adherence Reduced stigma and discrimination Analyzing the data from my area, we can see that CATCH has contributed to improved numbers of HIV testing. VDC members and community facilitators also report signs of improved treatment adherence, and Stigma & Discrimination seems have reduced, as people talk openly about their status and address various myths around HIV that exist in the community. In a way we therefore see CATCH pushing forward the first 90, supporting the second 90 and influencing positively the third 90. (Details on Graph – not for presentation) Data from Ramotswa where CATCH started Number of People tested for HIV April-June 2015 2412 July-Sept 2015 2213 Oct-Dec 2015 2213 Jan-March 2016 3107 April-June 2016 3708 Note that numbers hugely improved after the start of the self-assessment & action planning phase in December 2015

Acknowledgments