Fighting AIDS side by side

He's rail-thin, walks gingerly using a stick, and speaks in a wheezy whisper. ''Before, I could not walk from the hut to the latrine,'' says Alberto Manhique, who lives in Xai-Xai, southern Mozambique. ''But now, I am feeling better."

Mr. Manhique has been taking antiretroviral medicine―and it's working. His wife, Laurinda, is also taking the drugs. She tested positive for HIV after her husband got sick, but she feels healthy.

The Manhiques, who have four children, are supported by a local organization called Lado-Lado, which means ''side by side'' in Portuguese. Lado-Lado, which provides home-based care for those with HIV/AIDS, began in 2000 with 16 volunteers; now there are 76.

''Canadian assistance supported us in our home-care activities,'' says Natércia Duvane, coordinator of Lado-Lado. ''Following an initial consultation at a health clinic, our volunteers help care for the sick with the assistance of a nurse. Only when there are complications do the sick go to the hospital.''

Sometimes, Lado-Lado volunteers are the only ones who will visit those living with AIDS. The significant stigma of the disease means that friends and neighbours tend to stay away from those who are sick. ''I have no other support, apart from my family and this organization, whose volunteers have been visiting me over and over again,'' says Mr. Manhique.

With funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Lado-Lado volunteers supported 85 individuals in the district by providing a range of services that include psychological counselling, teaching family members how to care for their sick relatives, and identifying when a person should go to the hospital.

The organization has a three-hectare field on which volunteers grow corn and beans to feed the sick. Cultivating these crops is also used as a goal for those sick with AIDS. When the antiretroviral drugs begin to work, some individuals feel well enough to tend the crops in the field. This gives them the opportunity to get out of the house, be physically active, and know they are making a contribution.

Ms. Duvane's volunteers are getting results. She recalls the case of a woman in an advanced stage of sickness from AIDS who began to receive antiretroviral treatments―and visits from Lado-Lado volunteers. ''She could not walk or do anything at all,'' says Ms. Duvane. ''Thanks to the efforts of our volunteers, the woman's health improved, and then she joined our organization as a very dedicated worker. When she goes into homes to help others, she can speak from her own experience and tell them how she got to this stage.''

Lado-Lado has given Alberto Manhique this same kind of hope. ''The future is about working and living with my children and my wife,'' he says. ''I want to help my family in life.''

This project is just one of several CIDA-funded initiatives to strengthen Mozambique's health system so that good quality health services, including HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs are available to all citizens, regardless of where they live. These projects also help Mozambique progress towards the Millennium Development Goals #4, 5 and 6 of reducing child mortality, reducing maternal mortality and halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS.