DeepSummary
The podcast episode features a conversation with Shombi Ellis and Millicent Magwa, two women associated with the organization mothers2mothers (M2M). Shombi Ellis is the Country Director of M2M South Africa and Chief of Party for RISE II. She discusses the core purpose of M2M, which is to employ HIV-positive women as community health workers called Mentor Mothers to provide healthcare services, education, and support to women, children, adolescents, and families in 10 African countries.
Shombi explains how M2M has evolved from focusing solely on HIV care to offering integrated services for chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension, which are more prevalent and dangerous for people living with HIV. She highlights the distinctive aspect of M2M's model, which relies on the remarkable women who share their lived experiences and work within their local communities to overcome barriers to accessing healthcare.
Millicent Magwa, a Mentor Mother at M2M, shares her personal journey of living with HIV and her motivation to join the organization. She provides insight into her daily work, which involves conducting health education talks at facilities, assisting clinicians, and visiting households to provide screenings, health education, and referrals for various services.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Mothers2mothers (M2M) employs HIV-positive women as community health workers called Mentor Mothers to provide integrated healthcare services and support to underserved communities across 10 African countries.
- M2M's distinctive model relies on the lived experiences of Mentor Mothers, who work within their local communities to overcome barriers to accessing healthcare and ensure adherence to treatment.
- M2M has evolved from focusing solely on HIV care to offering integrated services for chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension, which are more prevalent and dangerous for people living with HIV.
- Mentor Mothers provide a range of services, including health education talks at facilities, assisting clinicians, conducting home visits for screenings, health education, and referrals.
- The work of Mentor Mothers has a significant impact on individuals' lives, facilitating lifestyle changes, improving treatment adherence, and ultimately leading to better health outcomes.
- M2M aims to create an HIV-free generation and ensure that those living with HIV are stable and receiving proper treatment.
- The organization partners with governments and stakeholders in the countries it operates to strengthen health systems and provide services where and how communities need them.
- M2M plans to continue expanding its services to reach special populations, such as men, men who have sex with men, commercial sex workers, and intravenous drug users.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “If you can even imagine it, imagine you having almost like a friend or a buddy in health, somebody that walks a journey with you and makes sure that you stay the course in your journey so that you come out on the other side healthier and your child is healthier.“ by Shombi Ellis
- “There's a lot of impact that we are doing in the community because, for instance, if there's a client that we're seeing, the client maybe was not adhering to treatment. So when a mental mother continuously visiting the household and giving health education, the person becomes stable in treatment. So which means that's a big issue. Impact is the life. It's like a lifestyle change to the person.“ by Millicent Magwa
- “My vision for my community is that it's an HIV free generation. I'm hoping in future we'll be having no people living with HIV and then those who are living with HIV be stable in treatment.“ by Millicent Magwa
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Episode Information
Conduit Conversations
Soho.Live Studios
4/3/23
In this episode Paul is joined by two inspiring women who play different roles within the organization mothers2mothers. Mothers2mothers employs women living with HIV as community health workers called Mentor Mothers. They work at health facilities and provide at-home care to deliver life-changing health services to women, children, adolescents and entire families across ten African countries. What started as just HIV care, mothers2mothers’ services have expanded to include more integrated care for patients with chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension. In many cases, these conditions are both more prevalent and more dangerous for people living with HIV, so this new approach allows mothers2mothers to continue their important HIV care while also expanding their model into new areas.