Benefits and challenges of a community-based programme for women living with HIV in Mali

ABSTRACT

Gundo-So is a community-based programme developed by and for women living with HIV (WLHIV) in Mali through the ARCAD-Santé-PLUS association. It provides support, co-constructed with WLHIV, to develop strategies on whether or not to disclose their status. The aim of the ANRS-12373 research is to evaluate the impact of this programme in the short and medium term. As part of this research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants (14). These interviews were analysed thematically. Three themes are presented here: positive feedback from the programme, which enabled them to be listened to and supported them both psychologically and financially. The impact of the programme on the participants' social network is also described, in terms of the links made with peers met during the programme. Finally, a new perspective on issues such as disease management, which improved through the contribution of knowledge, and also through the development of psychosocial resources. The programme enabled participants to acquire psychosocial skills, the ability to effectively self-manage their condition, and strategies on whether or not to disclose their HIV status. Participants' empowerment and social support in relation to the disease were developed through the programme, particularly through the links created with other women living with HIV.

KEYWORDS:

• Women-living-with-HIV (WLHIV)
• disclosure
• Mali
• community programme

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the WLHIV who participated to this study, the ARCAD-Santé PLUS staff and our interpreter for their strong involvement during the whole research process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval

The research has been validated by the INSERM ethics evaluation committee (opinion no. 18-474) in France and by the ethics committee of the National Institute for Public Health Research in Mali (no. 2018/174/CE/FMPOS).

Notes

1 The programme is made up of an individual assessment meeting, nine weekly two-hour meetings in groups of eight women, and an optional group meeting. The sessions are led by two facilitators from the association. Each meeting is organised around a topic and includes activities and tools specific to Malian culture, which were initially proposed by the women concerned. Each woman is given a shopping basket in which she can keep the items used during the sessions. During the first session, the group is invited to organise themselves into a village: the participants choose a village chief, nicknames, a name, a song, etc.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the ANRS under [grant no. appel à projet 2017-2].