Lesotho

This successful program highlights how improving HIV care strengthened the primary health care system and validates several critical areas for task shifting that are being considered by other countries in the region, including nurse-driven ART for adults and children, and lay counsellor supported testing and counselling, adherence and case management. [from abstract]

In Lesotho, as in many other countries, the HIV and AIDS care burden falls on the shoulders of women and girls in unpaid, invisible household and community work. This gender inequity in HRH needs to be addressed to ensure fair and sustainable responses to the need for home and community-based HIV/AIDS care and support. The Capacity Project addressed these issues through a study of men as providers of HIV/AIDS care and support. [from author]

This report details the work of the the Capacity Project assistance to the Lesotho Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to strengthen its capacity to respond to the HIV/AIDS pandemic by addressing gender segregation in nonformal caregiving through the active engagement of men as providers of community and home-based HIV/AIDS care and support. [adapted from foreword]

A joint pilot program was launched at the primary health care level in Lesotho through which nurses were trained and empowered to assume high levels of clinical responsibility for HIV care, including ART. This nurse-driven, community-supported model of care has proven to be successful in delivering quality HIV/AIDS and TB services integrated into existing primary health care structures for a population living in remote, rural areas. [from summary]

This report focuses on the impact of human resource shortages witnessed by MSF teams in four southern African countries - Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and South Africa. While the focus is largely on nurses in rural areas, it should be acknowledged that health staff is lacking across the spectrum - from doctors to laboratory technicians to pharmacists - at all levels of care. In all these cases the need for access to ART, as well as other health needs, is outstripping human resource capacity. [from introduction]

This study documents the contribution made by religion and religious entities to the struggle for health and wellbeing in Zambia and Lesotho, in a context dominated by poverty, stressed public health systems and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. By mapping and understanding these Religious Health Assets (RHAs), the study calls for a greater appreciation of the potential they have for the struggle against HIV/AIDS and for universal access and offers recommendations for action by both public health and religious leaders at all levels. Through respectful engagement these assets have the potential to increase in strength and value and become more effective in the long-term sustainability, recovery and resilience of individuals, families and communities. [publisher’s description]

The Lesotho apparel industry is the country’s largest private sector employer. By providing employment for poor and relatively unskilled workers, most of whom are women, this industry is combating two of the key long-term drivers of the HIV/AIDS epidemic: poverty and gender inequity. However, it is precisely this sector of the community, young women, who have the highest prevalence of HIV infection. Studies within the apparel sector show that around one third of employees are HIV-positive. Apart from the huge toll in human suffering associated with this high infection level, the epidemic also lowers productivity and increases costs to the employer. The Lesotho government is committed to providing a comprehensive response to HIV/AIDS, including the provision of antiretroviral treatment (ART) but, because of a lack of financial and human resources, only about 8 000 Basotho are receiving treatment at present. It is estimated that about 60 000 Basotho require ART. For all these reasons, a range of stakeholders wished to determine the feasibility of a private sector led long-term intervention (LTI) to reduce the HIV-infection rate among apparel workers and to provide care and support for those already infected. Towards this end consulting company HLSP was contracted to conduct this feasibility study and this report and specific recommendations are the outcome of the project. [author’s description]

This document is a combined Human Resources Development Plan and Human Resources Strategic Plan for the health and social welfare sector of Lesotho. The Development Plan is presented in Chapters 2 through 5, and the Strategic Plan is presented in Chapter 6. The essential difference between the two is that the HR Development Plan represents a technical assessment of the total labor supply and training requirements for the sector in the absence of any budget or production constraints. It reflects a technical assessment of what is needed and what should be produced and financed if we faced no constraints.