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USAID Local Service Delivery for HIV/AIDS (LSDA) project improves treatment outcomes for persons living with HIV through facility and community initiatives to prevent, detect and address gender-based violence comprehensively.
For four years, Odongo Danish (not real names) struggled to find a place he could call “home”. Danish,19, lost his father when he was 10 years old. Growing up with a single mother and three siblings at Bar Dege cell – Layibi division, Gulu city. Danish’s mother could hardly provide for the children as her income from running a grocery stall at the village market was hardly enough.
In 2016, Danish’s paternal uncle took him in his care. His single mother felt a big relief but, little did she know it was the beginning of a horrible life for her son. From the time Danish joined his uncle’s family, he had a gruesome experience, heavy house chores, physical abuse, emotional stress and rationed meals. In 2020, he returned to his mother due to the difficult experience.
The violence affected Danish who had in 2012 tested positive for HIV and started antiretroviral treatment. He became nonresponsive to the health workers at TASO Gulu, missing appointments, his daily pills and moved from one home to another. Several counseling sessions were conducted by the TASO Gulu team with little improvement.
“I stopped ARVs for months, dropped out of school, became very irritable and not even my mother could say a word and l listen. l moved from one home to another. I reached a time and wanted to commit suicide,” narrates Danish.
USAID funded Local Service Delivery for HIV/AIDS Activity (LSDA), implemented by Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau (UPMB) supports 193 Private Not For Profit health facilities like TASO to provide HIV and Tuberculosis services at the facility and community including Gender Based Violence response services. This includes support to improve GBV clinical responses through mentorship and support supervision of PNFP health facilities and CSOs. Community and facility health workers are supported to focus on strengthening integration of routine GBV inquiry into all service delivery points, GBV case identification, referrals and management.
In January 2021, the TASO Gulu team identified GBV and its related psychosocial issues as the cause of poor adherence. To address the GBV, Young people and Adolescent Peer Supporters (YAPS) started conducting home visits to Danish’s home. His younger siblings, not on ARVs, were counselled and encouraged to support him adhere to his ARVs. His attitude towards life improved and He started voicing out his problems to his mother and the TASO Gulu team.
Danish later joined the adherence club meetings at TASO Gulu where His adherence to treatment improved and He began to share testimonies to other peers. He is currently virally suppressed and completed vocational training in motor mechanics. He supports his siblings through the income he earns from a garage workshop in the neighborhood.
Local Service Delivery for HIV/AIDS Activity (LSDA)
Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau (UPMB) | Plot 728, Namirembe, UPMB Close (off Balintuma Road), Mengo, Kampala, Uganda. Website: https://upmb.co.ug
For more information, contact the Chief of Party, Johnson Masiko on email: jmasiko@upmb.co.ug
November 2023
This success story is made possible by the generous support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of the story are the responsibility of UPMB and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government