The National AIDS Resource Center (ARC) in Addis Ababa is partnering with the National Clinician’s Consultation Center (NCCC) at the University of
California-San Francisco to improve access to quality HIV/AIDS care and treatment in Ethiopia by providing expert consultation for healthcare providers caring for
PLWH.
Increased access to ARVs in Ethiopia has generated a need for members of the health sector workforce to rapidly increase their knowledge on HIV/AIDS care. In
support of the CDC’s implementation of national IT systems, partners established FITUN Warmline, a call-in service that allows physicians throughout the
country to record questions on clinical care, which will then be researched and promptly answered by ARC specialists.
Specific objectives of this partnership include:
- Strengthening the clinical consultation skills and knowledge of all aspects of HIV prevention and management for FITUN Warmline staff;
- Improving the continuous quality improvement program for the Warmline; and
- Strengthening FITUN Warmline information services to serve as a clinical resource center on HIV for healthcare professionals.
Partners have conducted training sessions to facilitate development of Warmline methodologies and expand clinical and technical expertise on HIV-related topics
among staff. Partners have also developed curricula and educational modules on various topics to train FITUN Warmline staff, as well as developed and
implemented a continuous quality improvement (CQI) program to ensure the Warmline is providing relevant and up-to-date information to healthcare providers
throughout the country.
Partners jointly developed training manuals on a broad range of topics, including ART, perinatal care, PMTCT, post-exposure prophylaxis, clinical pharmacy, pediatric HIV, techniques of effective clinical consultation, opportunistic infections, and TB/HIV, which are used to train FITUN staff. They have also developed and implemented a continuous quality improvement program to ensure the Warmline is providing relevant and up to date information to health care providers.
To date, FITUN Warmline has provided more than 1,800 clinical consultations both via telephone and email.
Updated November 14, 2011
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