Programs
Teen Club
The teen club mission is to empower HIV-positive adolescents in Eswatini to live positively and successfully transition into adulthood. Meeting once monthly at each of our clinic locations, the program offers emotional support through structured activities designed to teach life skills, foster relationships and build confidence. We provide a forum for adolescents to constructively express themselves and discuss issues regarding their condition without the threat of stigma.
Mother-Baby Pair
In Eswatini, it is common for mothers to send their children to the clinic with the child’s caregiver if the mother is working or tending to other children. The Mother-Baby-Pair (MBP) initiative, started in August 2015, encourages mothers to bring their babies to clinic visits so that both can be cared for comprehensively. MBP services include family planning, cervical cancer screening, HIV re-testing, ART refills, immunization, and growth and development monitoring.
Mothers who visit our clinic receive information about the importance of always coming with their babies. And most of them do. We’ve seen a significant increase of mothers arriving with their babies, resulting in more HIV testing, more maternal health services, and, most crucially, zero new HIV infections in infants.
Research &
Scholarly Work
To influence and document change in health policy, medical practice, standards of care and models of care, Baylor Foundation Eswatini conducts diverse research in pediatric care and treatment. We maintain an Institutional Review Board, which is responsible for streamlining and ensuring the integrity of all research projects.
Social Work &
Psychosocial Support
The social work unit addresses the psychosocial needs of all clients attending Baylor Foundation Eswatini clinics. We offer several services under the mandate, with an emphasis on ART adherence counseling for clients who show detectable viral loads. Disclosure counseling is another service that is provided to clients, particularly children and adolescents, as it is vital to ART adherence. The unit also works with the Deputy Prime Minister’s (DPM) Office which is responsible for children’s welfare to address some social issues encountered by children and adolescents. Cases where a parent refuses their child to start ART are referred the DPM’s office which then takes the legal route. We also work with the DPM’s office to remove children from harmful environments to safe houses.
Sibancobi Camp
In partnership with SeriousFun Children’s Network, an NGO that provides camps for children with severe illnesses, Baylor Foundation Eswatini runs a yearly, five-day residential camp for teenagers living with HIV. We choose these participants from among our clients facing chronic challenges adhering to treatment. Primarily, the camp is meant to let the kids have some carefree fun and experience success in a supportive and safe environment. The teens engage in such activities as mapping out their dream books which inspire them to live healthy lives, adherence sessions and skits on living with HIV and consequences of poor adherence. As a result, the teens learn how to thrive despite living with HIV, their self-esteem grow, and they tend to pay more attention to their health.
Teen Mothers Club
Baylor Foundation Eswatini, in collaboration with The ViiV Healthcare Positive Action, facilitates a Teen Mothers Club Program to ensure holistic care for adolescent mothers living with HIV and their children. The overall goal of the project is to integrate psychosocial, clinical, and community-based interventions into a holistic package of care to improve long-term health and reducing the vulnerability of teen mothers living with HIV and their children in Eswatini.
Services that lactating and pregnant teenagers receive under this project are:
- ANC & PMTCT
- SRH
- Adherence & disclosure support.
- Home visits by the Teen Health personnel for critical cases
- Referrals for Child protection: Birth Certs & post abuse care
- GBV Prevention education and referrals
- Follow up of HIV exposed infants for check-ups through 24 months
- Economic strengthening focusing on entrepreneurship and business development
- Livelihoods intervention including business start-up mentorship
Visiting Scholars
Program
Through Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative, Baylor Foundation Eswatini hosts medical students and residents at our clinics. We are one of four countries in the BIPAI network that hosts medical learners. Visiting scholars work rotations at both the main Centre of Excellence and the three satellite clinics across Eswatini.
This unique learning experience allows visiting scholars to witness medicine in the new environment of another country, as well as bringing valuable ideas and collaboration into our clinics.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Our M&E department is responsible for the organization’s continuing function that aims primarily to provide our management and main stakeholders of ongoing interventions with indications of progress. The department helps the organization track achievements by a regular collection of information to assist timely decision making, ensure accountability, and provide the basis for evaluation and learning. We enable the organization to answer the following key questions:
- What development interventions make a difference?
- Are projects having the intended results?
- What can be done differently to better meet goals and objectives?
