Credit photo : Mishell Estefania Pozo Lomas/Coalition PLUS
Key populations vulnerable to HIV, to viral hepatitis and to sexually transmitted infections are faced with health inequalities[1] due to the many challenges they must overcome to access differentiated care determined according to their needs and with respect for their human rights.
In this context, one of Coalition PLUS’ strategic priorities is to promote and valorize the community-based healthcare approach of its member and partner associations, an approach based on:
- the effective participation of users in the development and implementation of actions concerning them,
- the recognition of their experience as people living with a disease as a legitimate and valid source of knowledge and know-how, useful to the collective effort for social change,
- advocacy for health democracy and for a healthcare system centered on the person, their best state of health and their empowerment.
One of the specific aspects of the community-based healthcare approach is that it targets determinants of health in particular, that is to say the factors (social, economic, family environment, education, employment, income, etc.) found in the life path of an individual and that influence their state of health. Consideration of the life path (in its entirety, sequentially and/or partially) makes it possible to construct a personalized plan and a set of differentiated services thanks to knowledge of the person, their life story, their relationships, their general health, their preferences and their interests.
It is this consideration of the user’s life path that served as the framework for the capitalization of the operations of the four sexual health services (SHS) settings put in place by the Coalition PLUS associations in Cameroon, Ecuador, France and Mali, and presented in this document.
First of all, in the form of synoptic sheets, the various aspects of the implementation of the four settings, that is to say:
- the national context (epidemiological context, access of vulnerable populations to sexual health services);
- the objectives and key moments in the development of the SHS setting, the intervention strategies (mobilization of the target audience, user’s health care pathways and interconnection with their life path);
- the results (target audience, services provided, advocacy actions to incorporate SHS schemes into national public health strategies); and
- the challenges encountered, success factors, levers and the lessons learned from this experience of implementing a community-based SHS setting.
[1] UNAIDS, February 2022, Report “Many key populations avoid health services”.
