While it’s only been a little over a year since their partnership began, the Community Initiative for Development Organization (CIDO) and IntraHealth International have already seen improvements in both access to and quality of HIV services in South Sudan.

The HIV prevalence rate among adults in South Sudan ages 15 to 49 is 2.1%. Only about 27% of people living with HIV in the country know their status and are on treatment. The South Sudan government is working to eradicate HIV, but instability due to violence and insecurity have led to a weakened health system. People often struggle to access the health services they need, especially since COVID-19 began to spread in 2020.

So IntraHealth International's Advancing HIV/AIDS Epidemic Control Activity (AHEC) is working with the government to build health workers' skills and strengthen existing health systems in the country. To do this, they partner with local organizations like CIDO, a women-led nonprofit organization that has been implementing development and humanitarian assistance programs in South Sudan since 2016.

In August 2021, CIDO partnered with AHEC’s Grants Under Contract (GUC) program, which provides technical assistance and support services to four local organizations to help them increase access to community-based HIV/AIDS services in Juba and Tambura counties and learn how to directly manage future PEPFAR funding.

“When CIDO started partnering with IntraHealth, the support was enormous,” says CIDO’s AHEC project officer, Leru Michael. “With consistent mentorship and technical assistance from AHEC guiding us through each program implementation, our performance has improved progressively, especially through refresher trainings that renew our knowledge on comprehensive HIV service provision.”

Our partnership approach

The partnership has already helped CIDO achieve important project milestones and improve their results. Over the past year, AHEC:

• Trained CIDO staff on the South Sudan Ministry of Health's new HIV self-testing protocols as an additional method for HIV testing, helping to kickstart their community activities
• Facilitated training and on-the-job mentorship sessions to help CIDO develop HIV program capacity, including data visualization and management, presentation tools, and monitoring and evaluation skills.
• Conducted biweekly performance review meetings for 46 community outreach volunteers and consistently reviews CIDO’s performance to provide insight for better performance.
• Helped CIDO identify clients who have been lost to follow-up and trace clients who use community HIV services.
• Provided technical training for community outreach volunteers and focal persons for viral load, early adherence, and indexing to create greater demand for HIV testing services and manage care and treatment.
• Provided donor referrals to help CIDO secure diverse funding opportunities.

CIDO now ensures all forms of HIV services are available to clients when they visit a facility to refill their medicine (which reduces a client’s transportation costs) and sets weekly targets to ensure they reach every client.

"I didn’t know how to use data presentation tools, but IntraHealth taught me and I’m now an expert.”

“IntraHealth staff mentor and give us weekly support and guidance before implementing any activity,” says Iya Tobi, CIDO’s monitoring and evaluation officer. “When I joined the project, I didn’t know how to use data presentation tools, but IntraHealth taught me and I’m now an expert.”