The Future of Enhancing Care

When the Enhancing Care Initiative is officially concluded at the end of 2004, many of the programs initiated by the AIDS Care Teams in Brazil, Senegal, South Africa, Thailand and Puerto Rico will continue. The teams have worked to secure future internal support and external funding for their programs. In many ways, the ECI multisectoral Framework has prepared the Teams for this difficult task. The Global Fund, for example, requires applicants to form multisectoral "Country Coordinating Mechanisms" (CCM) in order to receive funding. ECI countries are already able to demonstrate the value of these mechanisms, as well as the efforts required for them to be successful. The experience of ECI was an asset to the South Africa AIDS Care Team, which had coalitions in place when the Global Fund issued a call for proposals, and is now taking a key role in determining how best to disburse GFATM funds.

The Enhancing Care Initiative AIDS Care Teams have been able to develop programs that are immediately useful to communities and require minimal additional resources to operate effectively. Through the personal and professional commitment of individual AIDS Care Team members, the benefits of a multisectoral, local approach to improving HIV and AIDS care are evident today in the five ECI countries. The Teams believe that sharing these benefits will add to the value already created by ECI. To this end, A Training Guide for team building was developed, which was available for the first time at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, 2004. Future publications in academic journals will also be part of sharing the ECI experience with a broader audience.

The success of the ECI AIDS Care Teams demonstrates local capacity to mobilize resources and influence policy agendas according to community needs. In addition, the work of the AIDS Care Teams shows that dedicated involvement of local care experts can enhance care even in settings where resources are constrained. The ECI Framework will continue to be an important tool for the ECI AIDS Care Teams as they pursue new initiatives and expand their networks to include new partners. For future multisectoral AIDS Care Teams, the ECI Framework, the experience of the first five teams, and the lessons they learned will be evidence that a multisectoral team initiative can effectively enhance HIV/AIDS care in the places where care is needed the most.