When Suzy had her first child, a routine HIV test came back positive. She immediately started treatment. However, two years after regularly being on antiretroviral therapy (ART), she stopped for fear of stigma and rejection. Shortly thereafter, her health began to severely decline, resulting in partial paralysis in her upper body and loss of speech.
In early 2022, Suzy heard about the USAID Strengthening the Care Continuum project thanks to its community outreach efforts. Project staff counseled her on ART and the importance of remaining on treatment. Suzy’s mother, who had taken her to various spiritual healers, hospitals, and prayer camps, accepted Suzy’s diagnosis and supported her treatment.
“Now, I can move my hand and leg, and the best of it all is that I can speak,” said Suzy. “I am enjoying my life again. My advice to fellow clients is that no one should interrupt treatment.”
Getting Back to Care
Suzy is among 1,200 people that the project brought to care between October 2019 and March 2023 in the Ahafo Region through the Back–to-Care campaign. The campaign is a key project strategy to help clients who have missed appointments or interrupted ART get back on treatment. The Care Continuum team works with Models of Hope, whose staff are people living with HIV who draw on their own life story to encourage others to adhere to treatment. Project and Models of Hope staff reach these people through phone calls, home visits, counseling, and personal networks.
The USAID Strengthening the Care Continuum project supports over 36,000 people living with HIV in the Western Region (over 22,000 people), Western North Region (over 8,000), and Ahafo Region (over 6,000). The project is designed to strengthen the capacity of the Government of Ghana and its partners to provide quality, comprehensive HIV services for people living with HIV in the three regions.
