WiRED Releases Urgent Module to Help People with HIV/AIDS

By Allison Kozicharow; Edited by Elizabeth Fine

Introduction

WiRED International has just launched an urgent module titled When ARVs Are Gone: HIV/AIDS Symptoms Management. This training equips community health workers (CHWs) with the tools they need to address health crises faced by people living with HIV/AIDS and no medication access.

The module contains evidence-based and peer-reviewed information not readily available elsewhere. All CHWs — trained by WiRED or by other organizations — are invited to access the free module online or by way of a phone app. (See sidebar.)

Why is this module necessary?

Antiretrovirals (ARVs) are medications used to treat HIV, a retrovirus, by inhibiting its replication, while ART (antiretroviral therapy) refers to the use of a combination of ARVs to manage HIV infection and prevent its progression to AIDS. The development of these medications revolutionized the diagnosis of HIV from a death sentence to a managed condition. With these treatments people who are HIV+ can continue to lead normal lives. Without these treatments, the virus infection attacks a person’s immune system and eventually leads to AIDS and death.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 39.9 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2023. Note that 1.4 million people age 15+ in Kenya are living with AIDS, a country where one of WiRED’s CHW teams works.

Recent actions by the Trump administration to de-fund USAID have emptied shelves in clinics dispensing life-saving HIV/AIDS medications — mainly in Africa but on other continents as well.

In response, WiRED’s staff developed this urgent module to guide CHWs as they address the growing needs of their populations facing the absence of ARVs. WiRED produced the module in record speed thanks to a team of volunteers involved in researching, writing, reviewing and creating the interactive module.

How WiRED-Trained CHWs Help People with HIV/AIDS

In Kisumu, Kenya WiRED’s CHW team has served their communities in the face of endemic cases of HIV/AIDs for years. CHWs:

• Educate people on how to prevent HIV and stop its spread through sexual transmission. the sharing of bodily fluids and mother-to-child transmission.
• Test their community members for HIV.
• Record patients’ symptoms, refer them as necessary to clinics for treatment.
• Monitor people with HIV to be sure they take their ARVs correctly.

WiRED CHWs report that a majority of their HIV patients have been taking ARVs to reduce viral loads, symptoms and the spread of HIV. Tragically, now the role CHWs play in HIV/AIDS management has changed. Without access to ARVs, they must help people living with HIV to face increasing sickness and end of life.

Conclusion

WiRED accelerated the module into production to provide a guide with free, immediate access so that CHWs all over the world can give the best care and support possible to HIV/AIDS sufferers now lacking ARVs. WiRED will continue to report on the HIV/AIDS situation as it affects populations living in underserved regions globally.

A personal note from Gary Selnow, Ph.D., Executive Director of WiRED

We watched in horror as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) abruptly terminated its programs. Although WiRED receives no funding from USAID, we collaborate with organizations abroad that depend on the agency to deliver life-saving ARV drugs to people living with HIV. These medications enable individuals to lead near-normal lives and curb the spread of HIV within communities.

Confronted with the unfolding crisis in Africa and beyond, we asked ourselves what we could do to help. While we lack the resources to bridge the ARV gap, we possess expertise in training CHWs. In response, we developed a training module to equip CHWs with tools to alleviate some of the pain and discomfort of AIDS as patients’ health deteriorates. Although we cannot cure or slow the disease’s progression as ARVs disappear from pharmacy shelves, we can teach CHWs how to ease the pain and discomfort of people who have declining health and are staring death in the face.