While Gone Rural has provided opportunities for women to participate meaningfully in the labour market, in the areas where these women live, work and gather, health services are lacking. Most of these women live far distances from rural clinics and travel to a clinic or hospital to treat illnesses such as HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis (TB) - or even maintain basic health care – is prohibitively expensive. For women who have started on antiretroviral therapy (ART), the need for regular, reliable service is of great importance, in order to maintain adherence to the highly regimented drug protocols.

Response

Gone Rural, the Family Life Association of Swaziland (FLAS), and the Business Coalition against HIV/AIDS (BCHA) seek to address some of the barriers and challenges described above by implementing a 10-month pilot project that will provide safe, confidential, female-friendly, and easy-to-access services and information to women artisans of Gone Rural and employees of Swazi Can.  Building on a foundation of project experience and knowledge of client needs, the project partners will implement the following activities:

1. Provide Mobile Clinic Services – FLAS will operate a “Women’s Mobile Wellness Clinic” designed to provide a “one-stop-shop” for women to access comprehensive HIV testing/ counselling/treatment and SRH services, including family planning, cervical cancer screening, and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Specifically, FLAS mobile clinics are equipped to provide: a variety of contraceptive commodities (including condoms, pills, injectables, Norplant, IUD, and emergency contraception), HIV testing and counseling, blood draws for CD4 counts, treatment of opportunistic infections, pap smears, STI treatment and counseling, pregnancy testing, ante and post natal care, maternal and child vaccination services, and pre-/post-abortion care.