Press corner

[Laurence Gilliot]

Friends,

Let us share here all the interesting articles we come accross, related to AIDS Competence.
Please post the title, the source, the hyperlink to the article and if possible a short introduction with the link to AIDS Competence.

Amis,

Partageons ici les articles intéressants, en lien avec la compétence face au sida.
Veuillez poster le titre, la source, le lien vers l'article et si possible une courte introduction qui fait le lien avec la Compétence face au sida.

Laurence

[L R Sailo]

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Mizoram! We had a great learning event on ACP from 29th Sept-1 Oct 2009 in Aizawl, capital of Mizoram. The workshop and the field visits were an eye-opener for the participants from other states. “I have not seen or heard AIDS competence Process (ACP). I have seen ACP lived”, said, Fr. Joe, Director, People in need Foundation, Dimapur which organised the workshop. The event was hosted by CHAN. Other NGOs from Nagaland were Kekhrie Foundation, Dimapur Network of Positive people, AIDS Prevention Society from Assam, Mizoram network of Positive People, FXB- Mizoram, YARD- Nagaland, Network of Nagaland Drugs & AIDS Organisation (N NagaDAO), SIAAP from Chennai and Samraksha from Bangalore.

Please find attached the two clippings of the event published in local dailies of Mizoram, Northeast India. The event was also covered by Television and radio.

Best regards,

Sailo

[Gaston]

Dear Sailo,

Thank you for posting this. It seems to have been a great event in Mizoram. I have heard good stories from Rituu and Bobby. I like how the articles capture elements of the approach quite well. Keep the good work going!

Kind regards,
Gaston

[Laurence Gilliot]

Excellent news! I'm happy to see that the newspapers in India report on such positive changes in society. They explain the process well and give a good example. Well done!

Laurence

[Laurence Gilliot]

Message from Verona Groverman

Dear friends,

Organisations and networks of People living with HIV play a key role in the response to the AIDS pandemic. They are the ones who represent the interest of People living with HIV and give them a voice. Recently we conducted an exploratory study for STOP AIDS NOW! (SAN!) on the opportunities to improve the incorporation of the GIPA principle (Greater Involvement of People living with HIV/AIDS) in STOP AIDS NOW! partner programmes and STOP AIDS NOW! development projects. The results may be interesting for your work as well.

Attached you find the factsheet on the results of our research (in English and in Spanish). On the SAN! website (http://www.stopaidsnow.org/related_topics_article/gipa) you can find the full report ('A world to involve').

With kind regards,

Verona Groverman and Tanne de Goei

[Renaud Boulet]

Je voulais partager un article intitulé: "Homosexuels : cibles émouvantes, boucs émissaires", écrit par Jean-Christophe Servant, lu sur un blog du monde diplomatique. L'auteur parle d'homosexualité en Afrique et plus particulièrement au Sénégal.
Ce n'est pas tant l'article qui à suscité mon intérêt mais pour une fois, le long commentaire en dessous qui répondait partiellement aux questionnements suscités par l'article lui-même... Je resterai volontairement vague pour vous donner envie de lire...
http://blog.mondediplo.net/2009-10-21-Homosexuels-cibles-emouvantes...

[Gaston]

Dear friends,

An article about the Constellation and its take on Knowledge Management has been published in the last issue of the Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev) magazine. A peer-reviewed quarterly magazine.

Schmitz, Gaston and Forth, Philip (2009) 'Believing in the human capacity to respond to HIV and malaria: sharing experiences on a human level for global impact', Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 5;2, 173-184. 2009, copyright Taylor & Francis. Is available online here.

Attached is a preprint of the article submitted for consideration in the Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 5;2, 173-184. 2009, copyright Taylor & Francis; Schmitz, Gaston and Forth, Philip(2009) 'Believing in the human capacity to respond to HIV and malaria: sharing experiences on a human level for global impact', is available online here.

Regards,
Gaston

[Gaston]

Dear friends,

The Constellation's business model is partly inspired by the 'Starfish model of decentralisation' as described in The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, a best-selling model for analyzing organizations, leadership styles, and competitive strategy.

One of the authors, Rod Beckstrom, a well-known entrepreneur and currently CEO of ICANN, added the Constellation is his latest newsletter as an example of a Starfish organization. Click this link to read more: http://beckstrom.com/Nov2009.html

[Gaston]

Spirituality and religion have a positive impact in DRC on disclosing status, especially by women. Interesting study that shows the importance of self-confidence and the importance of hope and community. The important conclusion:

“Given the strong foundation of faith in African communities that are heavily impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, understanding how the religious beliefs of individuals affected by HIV/AIDS influence their prevention, care and treatment choices is critical. Our data suggest that while PLWHA, their health care providers and their spiritual leaders have strong convictions in the power and goodness of God, they also believe in the importance of medical treatment and care for PLWHA. Acknowledging and understanding how communities rely upon and tap into these different health belief systems is critical to developing and implementing coherent and effective prevention, treatment and care strategies in these settings.”

How can SALT help this to happen?

[Rituu B. Nanda]

MRSA prevention focuses on identifying what already works

Dear All,

On average Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) kill about 275 patients daily in US hospitals. This is largely because doctors and allied staff do not follow hand hygiene protocols.A leading bacterial source of HAIs is Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), a deadly pathogen resistant to most commonly-used antibiotics.

I was excited to read Billings Clinic’s approach to MRSA prevention focuses on identifying what already works, and then on finding a way to amplify that practice. When data allows people to see the difference their actions are making, it acts as a self and collective motivator. Please read this interesting article:
Saving Lives by Changing Relationships: Positive Deviance for MRSA Control and Prevention in a U.S. Hospital
By Arvind Singhal, Prucia Buscell, & Keith McCandless
Positive Deviance Wisdom Series, Number 3, 2009
http://www.positivedeviance.org/pdf/publications/FINAL-MRSA-Billing...

Regards,

Rituu

[Gaston]

Hi friends. So what did the ‘developed world’ learn about fostering community ownership on behavioural health issues from a health service provider point of view? I found this McKinsey article. Attached the full version (as you need to be a member to view it) http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Health_Care/Strategy_Analysis/Enga.... Below the Key points:

- Engaging consumers requires a fundamental mind-set shift for payors: they must think of their members as partners in health management. Thus, payors need to build new or enhanced capabilities in such areas as consumer insights, customer relationship management, behavioral economics, and social marketing.

- Many consumers know what they should do to improve their health, but few act accordingly. For example, in one European consumer survey,4 87 percent of respondents said they were interested in better managing their long-term health, yet only 15 percent reported drinking the recommended seven glasses of water per day, and only 30 percent ate five daily portions of fruits and vegetables. In many cases, knowledge is in itself insufficient to drive behavioral change.

- Behavioral science shows that people’s choices are driven not only by rational factors but also by a variety of societal, emotional, and psychological drivers. These include adherence to social norms (“Everyone else does the same”), maintenance of the status quo (“I’ve developed a habit of doing this”), and psychological dependencies (“I need it to feel good”). The circumstances of modern life also contribute to poor decisions (“I eat candy because there’s nothing else in the vending machine”)

- Going beyond an understanding of consumer behaviors to knowing what interventions will work is quite another challenge. Evidence of how effectively behavioral-change interventions influence clinical results is scarce.

- some payors have already found successful behavioral-change formulas. The three approaches described below, when used appropriately, encourage consumers to take “ownership” of their health, help them manage chronic illness, and prompt them to make appropriate use of health services.

- 1. Most payors now view education about health and preventive care as a basic requirement, with the rationale that consumers need to understand the risks associated with their lifestyles as a starting point for addressing them. (gaston: people need to understand that they are at risk)

- 2. Many payors are also attempting to empower consumers by encouraging increased proactivity in the choice of health care providers and services. This usually involves posting comparative information about providers’ performance on Web portals. Among the topics consumers can learn about are physician qualifications and experience; hospital infection and readmission rates; the risks, benefits, and costs of specific procedures; and even mortality rates by physician for some elective procedures. By enabling consumers to exercise fact-based choice, payors hope to create a virtuous cycle that improves quality and cost-effectiveness.

- 3. The third approach, providing incentives for behavioral change, is less widely used than the other two, but it has significant untapped potential for impact. Incentives range from ad hoc rewards for simple behaviors (such as coming in for a health screen or bringing in an infant for vaccination) to free benefits that support behavioral change (such as nicotine-replacement therapy) and full-blown incentive programs (similar to frequent-flier programs) that reward healthy behaviors.

- Health information tends to be most helpful when consumers are searching for specific facts or services.

- Encouraging proactive choice: A growing number of payors try to help their members make informed choices about plans, providers, and services, seeing it as a way to increase consumer involvement, encourage provider competition, and improve the patient experience. First, payors can provide choice on what matters to consumers. Second, payors can partner with third parties to ensure that the data provided to consumers is objective. Third, payors can make choice-related information more actionable by providing relevant information through an integrated data platform that allows patients to execute their choices immediately.

- Getting incentives right: The first principle is to know what types of behaviors incentives can change. The second principle is that more fundamental behavioral change requires a mix of incentives and support.

- One way to get started could be to select one or two risk factors or conditions with high prevalence (such as obesity or diabetes) and develop a coordinated program that includes education, choice, and incentives.

- Our research reveals wide variability in the way payors are implementing these approaches and the likely effectiveness of their efforts. Hard data on impact can be difficult to obtain; many payors do not systematically collect such data, and those that do don’t necessarily focus on clinical results or make the information publicly available.

My conclusion: we know there are things missing in our ‘developed’ health systems in terms of behavioural change, but still can’t really find out how to effectively foster ownership and increase health-seeking behavior. Research results are lacking and we’re basing our advice on scattered piloting and what works for fast-moving consumer goods. There are some interesting cases in the article, but it remains the weakest link in health systems.

[Marlou]

http://www.scribd.com/MD-Dec09-Small/d/24597207

An interesting article to promote community ownership in Rolling Back Malaria (see page 21).

Marlou

[Gaston]

Excellent article. well phrased and explained with clear recommendations for donors. Well done!