JUSTRI WOMEN CLINICS

How to Establish a Women’s HIV Clinic – http://justri.org/how-to-guides/

JUSTRI works in settings who usually have no dedicated women’s HIV services. The second of our ‘How to’ series is already completed and will support those who wish to develop and run a clinic to deliver expert, focused care in women’s health for those with HIV. We will help them to establish their own Women’s HIV health clinics.

Project objectives:

1. To identify individuals within units in SEE & MENA who wish to develop an HIV women’s clinic in their own institution and match them with UK-based clinical unit with an HIV women’s clinic, specifically noting the similarities and differences between their respective settings
2. To organise and execute the goals of the programme, utilizing the How to establish and HIV women’s clinic resource, www.justri.org/howtohivwoman/
3. To establish ongoing training, exchanges between service units and improvements in local guidelines and best practice and explore future possibilities of joint working, educational projects, resource development among the participants

Clinic Roll Out Project details:

JUSTRI worked with local providers to establish 3 pilot HIV women’s clinics in Cluj, Timisoara and Bucharest, Romania (and we plan more in other places in the future)

With the increasing diagnosis of HIV in women and the greater number of infected women with ever more complex health needs, there is an urgent need for education and guidance for those working in this area. The JUSTRI How to establish and HIV women’s clinic resource guide, www.justri.org/howtohivwoman/ is designed for those who are interested in expanding HIV services for women and has been based on the model developed over the past 10 years at the Royal Free Hospital in London. That clinic provides a cohesive, one stop shop and emergency services for over 1000 women with HIV and covers general HIV testing and care, obstetrics, gynaecology, sexual health and other women targeted services. We believe that helping to establish similar clinics for women in other settings will benefit their treatment and care and improve the skills and knowledge base, as well as reduce stigma, in healthcare professionals who do not routinely care for HIV. Already a pilot clinic is being established in Hong Kong using our ‘How to’ guide.

Bi-monthly online support of the working group in each of the centres deals with issues that arise and monitor progress.