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In its concern to take care of its beneficiaries, Service Yezu Mwiza (SYM) has set up community distribution points for antiretroviral drugs (PODI) according to the directives of the Ministry of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS (MSPLS).

PODIs are formed by and for People Living with HIV (PLHIV) living in the same locality, according to their consent. In fact, to reduce the volume of patients who are coming to SYM, the PODIs were set up to give beneficiaries easy, rapid and continuous access to ARV drugs.

Besides ensuring that patients continue to go about their daily activities normally, PODIs help them to come together and can even create income-generating activities to support themselves and their families.

The PODI are formed by groups of five to thirty people. Pregnant and breastfeeding women on PMTCT, children under 10 years of age, patients who are not stable or who have other comorbidities do not join these groups because they require close (regular) multidisciplinary follow-up. Only stable PLHIV, observing treatment and having already taken at least two consecutive viral load tests and who have been found undetectable are allowed to access these community-based multi-monthly ARV distribution groups.

SYM’s RAFG Activity project team, during the establishment of the PODI in Gatumba “Although SYM has adopted the mobile clinic model to bring care services closer to the community, the PODIs help to relieve the mobile clinic which will devote more time to patients on non-stable ARVs who require rigorous multidisciplinary follow-up. It is an optimization of access to treatment by involving the patients themselves where the patients grouped in the PODI appoint their leaders, who, with the help of the SYM providers, facilitate the approach of drugs to other patients in the group,” said Dr Emmanuel, who handles the RAFG Activity project at SYM.

Reaching an AIDS-Free Generation (RAFG) Activity is an FHI360 project that supports the Burundian government’s efforts in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic; Supporting health structures in implementing MSPLS national guidelines for HIV management.
Beneficiaries have welcomed this approach, especially during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic, as there will be limited grouping of people during the mobile clinic’s visits.
Over ten PODI have already been set up in different areas of intervention of Service Yezu Mwiza, notably in Gisyo, Ruziba, Rweza, Buterere, to name a few.