Accelerating Innovation

A healthcare professional wearing a mask takes a patient's blood pressure

Frontline AIDS/Tony Kawimbe/Arete/2020 Partners are finding innovative ways to disrupt conventional HIV service delivery as a direct response to COVID-19.

Accelerating Innovation increased the resilience of communities impacted by HIV to respond to outbreaks of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.

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Why Accelerating Innovation was needed

COVID-19 was spreading at an alarming rate and taking a heavy toll, all over the world, but particularly in countries where marginalised communities lack access to health care.

There have been stark warnings about a rise in AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa if the impact of COVID-19 is not mitigated. We have seen partners innovate to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. Some examples include:

Taking peer-led health care models, like take home methadone for people who use drugs, or mental health services for marginalised populations, into online spaces.
Community mobilisation for COVID-19 and HIV together.
Moving healthcare provision away from clinics and into the hands of the most marginalised people in their communities.

The changes that public and private institutions – and especially communities – are making in their ways of working, shows us that in crisis, governments and communities can work together to quickly introduce changes that under normal circumstances would take much longer.

The HIV response can be thoughtful about responding to COVID-19, pioneering new ways of doing things and providing us with better and sustainable ways to respond to HIV.

What Accelerating Innovation did

Innovation is a process. It is the sparks of energy, ideas and learning turned into action that lead to doing things differently and better.

We identified the most promising innovations across the Frontline AIDS partnership that disrupt conventional ways of service delivery and information giving, as a direct response to COVID-19. With the right combination of investment, innovation, and advocacy, these could prove valuable to the HIV response.

We worked with two of our partners to develop and demonstrate programme models that increase the resilience of the HIV response to further COVID-19 and other respiratory disease outbreaks.

Where Accelerating Innovation worked

We worked in:

India: with Alliance India
Uganda: with Alive Medical Services

India

Some of the factors that are fuelling the pandemic in India are:

Cultural and religious festivals encouraging social gatherings.
Myths and misconception about COVID-19.
COVID-19 stigma affecting mental health.
Health systems unprepared to tackle the pandemic.

Since March 2020, Alliance India has been providing continued COVID-19 response and recovery services to the most marginalised people including people living with HIV. They have ensured continued accessibility to HIV treatment and opioid substitution therapy during lockdown, distributed PPE kits to frontline workers, and provided tele-counselling on COVID-19 prevention to clients.

Learning from various projects that address HIV and AIDS, and drawing on best practices, Alliance India worked towards adapting health programmes in the COVID-19 context. This safeguarded progress and protected healthcare professionals through training and capacity building.

They built on the strong community structures they have developed through implementing the world’s largest care and support programmes for people living with HIV, Vihaan. Using this infrastructure, they layered on COVID-19 prevention messages, ensuring people living with HIV practice behaviours that protect them from COVID-19 like frequent hand washing and social distancing. They also linked those most impacted by HIV and COVID-19 to existing social protection schemes and livelihood options.

Uganda

In Uganda, the COVID-19 pandemic called for a shift in the delivery of health services towards the community. With restrictions in place, much of health care was done at home, and products and information are increasingly accessed through stores, pharmacies, or the internet. Self-care interventions, and virtual and mobile community services helped to decentralise services, pushing services into the communities where people could access them safely and anonymously.

Alive Medical Services (AMS) offers free HIV and SRHR services to all with a focus on the most vulnerable through outreach services. One example of these services is the promotion of HIV information and self-testing for LGBT and young people through virtual platforms.

AMS’ approach expanded access to a range of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for key populations through virtual and mobile delivery platforms. A focus on self-care interventions for key populations aimed to empower and support people with the autonomy to take their healthcare into their own hands. This involved strengthening the capacity of health workers on self-care interventions and use of virtual and mobile service deliveries.

Programme details: Accelerating Innovation was a 15-month programme (February 2021 – April 2022) funded by The Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Accelerating Innovation

Why Accelerating Innovation was needed

What Accelerating Innovation did

Where Accelerating Innovation worked

India

Uganda

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