SCOPE’s success with Home-Testing

SCOPE is achieving excellent success with a Home Testing approach in Kilifi and Kaloleni

Home Testing allows SCOPE’s Trained Voluntary Testing and Counseling (VCT) team to visit households and test them at their home.  Since we begun this program, we have tested over 2000 people in homes across our district.  This is a fantastic result and there are many additional benefits to this approach, including:

  • Greater access to VCT within the community:  Within many communities, there is a terrible stigma related to entering a VCT center for testing which proves an obstacle to many ‘Kilifians’ getting tested.  However, by visiting a person in the home, this obstacle is removed and more people are willing to find out their status.
  • Entire families get tested: This particularly important as where one spouse is positive, there is an increase chance that other family members are infected also.  The earlier you find out that you are positive, the quicker you get access to health services and therefore, gives you a great chance to live positively with your virus.  As Mrema says “being positive is not the end”.
  • Providing information to the family on how to stay protected: In addition to counseling and testing,  Community Health Workers can also provide the family with additional health information regarding HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria to help keep the family healthy.
  • Counseling and support: Finding out that your positive can be an extremely traumatic event in your life. Our trained home testing counselors helps community members cope with the news and illustrates how infected can maintain healthy and live a long life even though they are infected.  In a family environment, the counselor can include the entire family and they can work together as a unit, solidifying the family bond.

SCOPE work closely with SCOPE trained Peer Educators, Ministry of Health Officials and of course, SCOPEs Food Distribution team to maximise our impact and penetration within our communities.  This joint approach is without doubt one of the main reasons for our success.

Read about how Mzee Kitsao and his wife Kadzo got tested at their home in Ngerenya in Bahari Division, Kilifi.