In September, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) Research Unit approved the Capacity Project’s revised proposal to conduct a study on the role men can play in providing HIV/AIDS care in Lesotho.

In countries with acute shortages of human resources for health, gender segregation may exacerbate the problem by discouraging the male population from participating in HIV/AIDS care.

The study findings will help to strengthen planning for community health workers by identifying ways to increase the pool of health workers who can provide community HIV/AIDS care. The Project is now working with the MOHSW Family Health Division to recruit and train data collectors. The first phase of the 18-month study consists of a situational analysis, which will determine the need for, feasibility of and factors related to men’s substantive engagement in community HIV/AIDS home-based care and support. The results will be disseminated at the national, district and community levels in 2008, to be followed by a pilot test of an intervention later in the year.

October 2007