CarePack® - IPD Features

For the first time...

…a campaign provided an evidence-based CarePack® of multiple health interventions as encouragement for voluntary HIV counselling and testing. By using long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (LLINs), water purifiers, and condoms as encouragement for an HIV test benefiting both HIV positives and negatives, we were able to influence a large proportion of the population to know their HIV status while protecting them from HIV, malaria and diarrhoeal diseases.

…a campaign demonstrated the ability to achieve a national target of 80% of adults knowing their HIV status within just one week. This is an important achievement as in many countries, including Kenya, less than 20% of adults know their status.

…a campaign measured if scaled-up testing of an entire community could assist in addressing and reducing resistance, including stigma attached to HIV testing. This was important because resistance may be a leading cause of current low testing rates.

…bed nets targeting adults were part of an integrated public health campaign. Previous integrated campaigns that included bed net distribution were coupled with child health interventions such as measles vaccinations and vitamin A supplement and reached, therefore, only the most vulnerable (i.e. children under five). The inclusion of adults contributes to the universal coverage of LLINs for the at-risk population, which was called for by United Nation’s Secretary General earlier this year.

…CD4 cell count determination was implemented at community level outside traditional health structures in Sub Saharan Africa. This was done because universal access to anti-retroviral therapy (ART) cannot be achieved without scalable model for early determination of CD4 count at community level.

…a major partnership in an integrated public health campaign was led by a private company with the support from high level stakeholders such as national Ministry of Health and leading research agencies. This displays new opportunities for private companies to get involved in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

…an evidence-based CarePack® was designed to last for three years, thus reducing the need for short-term repeat interventions. This was important because our experience with malaria prevention has shown that bed nets rapidly went to scale when they no longer needed to be re-dipped in insecticide on a regular basis with introduction of LLINs. Moreover, there is a cost efficiency attached to longer lasting interventions as repeat costs are eliminated.

…it was studied if an evidence-based CarePack® has the potential to delay the progression of disease among HIV positives. The direct and in-direct financial costs soar when a patient begins ART and this campaign aimed to demonstrate that significant costs can potentially be saved by keeping an HIV positive person relatively healthy through the use of bed nets that prevent the transmission of malaria, and water purifiers that break the cycle of chronic diarrhoea and condoms that prevent the transmission of HIV.