This article published by WHO Africa highlights the success of the Zvandiri program in Zimbabwe, a peer-to-peer program implemented by Africaid that helps to improve adherence to antiretroviral medication among children, adolescents, and young people and thus promotes viral supression.
The Zvandiri program, which began in 2004, trains Community Adolescent Treatment Supporters (CATS) and Young Mentor Mothers (YMM) — young HIV-positive people (aged 18-24 years) — who work between health facilities and the homes of youth living with HIV to increase uptake of testing, linkage, and retention in care. CATS and YMM act as positive role models and strengthen existing networks of social protection.
The Government of Zimbabwe has replicated the program in 51 of its 63 districts and integrated Zvandiri's services into its national health system. The program has been adopted and scaled in 8 countries with 1600 trained CATS. Compared to adolescents on antiretroviral therapy who did not participate in the program, adolescents supported by CATS were 3.9 times more likely to adhere to treatment. Read more about the impacts of the program here.
Read more about Zvandiri on Africaid's website here.
Watch a video about Zvandiri's Young Mentor Mothers initiative here.
Some questions to take away from Zvandiri:
- What can Zvandiri tell us about peer-to-peer mentorship programs?
- Why do you think the peer-to-peer mentorship model is so successful?
- Is there something you would feel comfortable mentoring other peers on?
- Could you implement peer-to-peer mentorship into your project or your community?