Capacity building in HIV/AIDS care in Anti Retroviral Therapy Centre through Open and Distance Learning

Abstract

India has the third largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS. As per HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2008-09, there are an estimated 23.9 lakh people living with HIV/AIDS in India in 2009. Currently nearly 9.6 lakh patients registered for Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) and 2,70,000 eligible patients are on treatment at 346 ART Centres. National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), Govt. of India has nearly 346 ART centres with 650 Link ART Centers and 250 Community Care Centres which are being scaled up further. About 2000 trained doctors would be needed to these facilities. The qualification for Senior Medical Officer (SMO) ART centers is MD while for Medical Officer it is MBBS. It is planned that MBBS doctors with PG Diploma in HIV Medicine shall be considered for the post of SMO at ART centers. The PG Diploma in HIV Medicine will help to standardize HIV Medicine training and also help to bridge the gap in trained man power for ART centre. There are two doctors in each Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) facility, One doctor in each Community Care Centre and one doctor as In-charge of link ART centre (ICTC) are directly involved in patient care and are potential candidates for one-year training programme in ‘HIV Medicine’. // With the above background School of Health Sciences (SOHS), Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has developed a one year programme on HIV Medicine for MBBS doctors, which will be offered through Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode in collaboration with National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Govt. of India with the objectives of imbibe comprehensive knowledge on basic of HIV as related to details of management of HIV/AIDS in tertiary care set up, management all complications as well as opportunistic infections due to HIV/AIDS at time of need; and recognize and handle emergencies related to HIV/AIDS and its complication and take bedside decision for management whenever is required. // Centre of Excellence (COE) as designated by NACO had been identified as training centre for this programme. Master trainer as designated by NACO has been identified as academic counselors for this programme. All necessary skills have been incorporated in this training programme so that the successful candidate can manage independently ART centre of NACO. There are 28 days (in 4 contact session) training in the COE for hands on skill training and 30 days training in the ART centre. This programme comprised of 36 credits (1credit = 30 study hours), which is divided into 4 theory and 2 practical courses. All learners have been provided a total of 20 block/module having 76 units/chapters along with 3 practical log books as learning materials in this programme. Besides, live interactive teleconference and interactive radio counseling also been integrated as teaching learning methods in this programe. A total 120 learners have been enrolled in 6 COEs in 2012. // Paper ID: 172