Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

Preparing for Home Visits: Information on HIV/AIDS

In this activity, you will:

 Assist participants to put together basic HIV/AIDS information for their home

visitor’s handbook which they can use for reference on home visits

Facilitator’s notes:

Home visitors will now have some basic information about what HIV/AIDS is; how it
is transmitted and how transmission can be prevented. With the handouts given to
participants during these activities, they will be able to start compiling a home visitor’s
handbook. They can use this for their own records and to give information to families
during home visits. In the first part of this activity, you will help participants put their
handbooks together. In the second part of the activity, participants will practise using the
information they have appropriately. For example, some information they have may not
be appropriate for children.

For this activity you will need:

 Copies of Handouts 1 to 4 (Participants should bring

their handouts from previous activities)

 Extra sheets of blank paper

To facilitate this activity:

1 Explain to the participants that they will be compiling a home visitor’s handbook to assist
them when they make home visits to families and children. For this topic, participants
should arrange Handouts 1 to 4 to form the first section of their handbook.
If they want to include an introductory page titled “Basic Information on HIV/AIDS”,
this will help them to organise their handbook.

2 Explain to participants that they can use the information in the handouts
to help families and children understand what HIV/AIDS is, how it is
transmitted, and how they can prevent becoming infected themselves.
Correct information about HIV/AIDS is important for people to share,
as there is much stigma, distrust and fear associated with this disease.

3 Participants may want to translate some of the concepts in order to
communicate them more effectively. For example, there are often local
names for HIV/AIDS that are used in a community. They can do this
on the handout (where space permits) or on separate sheets of paper that
they can include in their handbooks.

4 Use this session to review participants’ understanding of the topic, so that they
are clear about the facts around HIV/AIDS; and especially about HIV transmission
routes.

Activity 6

1 - 2 hours

Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Unit 2, Module 1^105