The International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) in West Africa in partnership with UNAIDS, IPC Alliance, RAME and the Gambian Network of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) organized a training workshop on treatment literacy from September 22-26 in Banjul, The Gambia.
Thirty representatives from national networks of PLHIV in Burkina Faso, Cap Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, The Gambia , Guinea Conakry, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone attended the regional workshop to shared their experiences about the treatment situation in their countries before being trained on treatment adherence and the new ARV protocols. They also discussed the obstacles to treatment and came up with proposals to overcome these barriers.
The workshop was followed by a consultation on the establishment of community treatment observatories in West African countries. These observatories will empower PLHIV communities to keep a check on ARV supply drugs and alert mismanagement of drug supplies and stockouts. The consultation has helped identify the institutional framework of those treatment observatories together with the pilot countries where these observatories will be implemented and how they will be managed.
The workshop concluded with an advocacy event attended by The Gambian authorities and UN organizations.
