Introduction
The history of the AP Counselors Project goes back to 2003, when an NGO called Prajwala appointed counselors to work in HIV testing centers. In August 2003, Prajwala was handed over to LEPRA Society with 121 counselors, by APSACS, and was officially designated the AP Counselors Project.
The project is being implemented by LEPRA Society with support from APSACS and UNICEF. LEPRA Society forms the management support, along with the Young People’s Initiative of UNICEF. The primary focus of the project is on capacity building of counselors in the Voluntary Confidential Counseling and Testing Centers (VCCTC), Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission Centers (PPTCTC) and Integrated Counseling and Testing Centers (ICTC) so as to enable them to provide quality counseling services.
Areas of Operations
The project is presently operational in 23 districts of Andhra Pradesh, where 387 ICTC centers have been established, with 407 counselors and 440 Lab technicians.
APCP Project interventions |
Goals
• Counseling and testing of those availing services from the general population, including Ante Natal Cases
• Follow Up of cases
• Nevirapine Administration to positive ANCs
• Condom Distribution
• Effective Documentation and Reporting of information
• Community out reach & IEC activities
• Promoting quality of the professional relationship between counselor and clients in order to increase follow-up services
Activities
• Counseling
• Testing
• Follow up
• Nevirapine administration
• Out Reach Activities
• Linkages and networking with CBOs
LEPRA’s role
LEPRA Society provides support to APSACS in developing systems for recruitment, capacity building, supportive supervision, monitoring,, quality assurance, and advocacy.
Supporting Partners
Operational support is provided by APSACS / UNICEF
Implementing partners:
LEPRA Society Management unit.
Summary of Key Achievements ICTC centers
| S.No |
Activity |
Achieved |
| |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
1 |
Total no. of Clients tested |
497981 |
917340 |
190574 |
2 |
Total no. found positive |
66661 |
93576 |
25140 |
3 |
Total no. of Direct walk ins |
359312 |
641327 |
107259 |
4 |
Total no. found positive amongst direct walk-ins |
55332 |
70493 |
15418 |
5 |
Percentage of those found positive amongst direct walk-ins |
15.4% |
10.99% |
14.37% |
S.No |
Activity |
Achieved |
|
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
1 |
Total no. of new ANCs Registered |
421976 |
545241 |
267679 |
2 |
Total no. of new ANCs Tested |
384886 |
485744 |
200658 |
3 |
Total no. found Positive |
5513 |
5977 |
2568 |
4 |
Total no. of Positive Deliveries |
2840 |
3598 |
1669 |
5 |
Total no. of Live Births |
2682 |
3337 |
1568 |
6 |
Total no. of Mother-Baby Pairs who received Nevirapine |
2643 |
3247 |
1513 |
Future plan
• Develop training manuals based on NACO, WHO, UNIADS guidelines for providing training to trainers.
• Global Information System (GIS) mapping and web-based monitoring of infected and affected people.
• Supervise training on site, and develop checklists for supervision.
• To scale up centers at Government hospitals.
