1. 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

2. 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

3. 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 )

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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

9. Community Dashboard

10. Indirect catalyst towards 90-90-90
CATCH introduced
Indirect catalyst towards
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
July-Sept
Oct-Dec
Jan-March
April-June
Note that numbers hugely improved after the start of the self-assessment & action planning phase in December 2015

11. Acknowledgments