• Family planning (child spacing)• Pregnancy, delivery, and care of newborn

baby• Adolescent sexual and reproductive health• Breast feeding

• Food & nutrition• Abuse & violence• Immunization• Mental health

• Water & sanitation• Hygiene• First aid

VHTs teach the community about...

Diseases

Families

Home

• Giving treatment and man-aging simple illnesses in the home

• Sexually transmitted diseas-es such as HIV/AIDS

• Tuberculosis (TB)

How do VHTs help the community?

Record

Model

SaveLives

Link

Mobilize

Visit

Support

what?Community mappingBirth & Death register

Village register

why?Know up-to-date details of my village and

community

what?Practice what I teach

why?The community will see me as a healthy role

model

what?Know danger signs

Referrals to nearest health unit

Make sure all children are immunized

Send all women for health checks before & after

birthMake sure all newborn

babies get health checksGive treatment at home

why?Health care, treatment, and checks

prevent diseases, disability, and death

what?Health units and health

workers to my village so the community gets the ser-

vices it needs

why?Engaging in health activities together builds

up a healthy community

what?The village for health

activitiesHealth workers to attend

to communityReporting diseases in

village

why?Engaging in health activities together builds up a

healthy community

what?Patients at home

Our neighbors for healthy habits

Community groups for health talks

why?To ensure treatment

To improve hygiene and careTo give advice to people on changing

habits

what?People with disabilities

HIV+ peopleNeighbors with

problems

why?To see if they are okay, or if they need help and referrals to people who can help them

Village

Health

Teams

GWED-G, in partnership with GlobeMed, works to reduce HIV infection and maternal

mortality in Northern Uganda, while preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV and other sexually

transmitted infections.

How do we do this?

We work with village structures like VHTs and health center staff to scale up HIV prevention efforts, integrating them with maternal health and newborn care.

What is a VHT?

A Village Health Team is a person chosen by their own community to promote the health and well-being of all village members. Their purpose is to:• Mobilize the community for health action• Promote health to prevent disease• Treat simple illnesses in the home• Check for danger signs in the community• Report community sickness to health workers• Keep village health records up to date

What are the responsibilities of a VHT?

VHT responsibilities include:• Action for community improvement• Taking danger signs to the health unit• Controlling infection during disease outbreaks• Referrals for services• Treatment support at home• Promoting family planning in the community• Giving health information to the health unit

Home Visits

Home visits help us find out the health and social needs of individuals and families. They help us connect to our commu-nities and keep us aware of our neighbors’ needs.

Who we visit

Why a home visit?

Skills for home visits

For productive home visits, VHTs should• Get on well with neighbors• Know about health• See danger signs• Always be able to report events in the

community• Listen to others• Respect themselves and their

neighbors• Not judge people• Respect privacy and

secrecy

• To see any danger signs and save lives• To link people to health services that can

improve their lives• To provide care and support to your com-

munity• To help change

health habits• To make sure

medicines are taken correctly

• To take record of what is in the home

All homes in the community should be visited, especially those of• People who the health worker has asked us to help• HIV+ pregnant mothers

• Babies and young children born to HIV+ mothers

• People with disabilites (PWD)• People with HIV-related mental

illness• People with social problems