HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment

Chreso is currently running treatment facilities in three provinces in Zambia namely,

Lusaka (Lusaka, Kafue, Chilanga,)

Southern (Livingstone and Siavonga), and

Central province (Kabwe).

Chreso Ministries has been providing mobile health services to vulnerable communities in hard to reach areas since 1989. Chreso Ministries works with vulnerable populations in both rural and urban communities. Some of the specific groups Chreso works with include people from low income households, women, children, adolescents and incarcerated populations. Chreso has 3 antiretroviral health centers, 10 community health posts, 8 satellite clinics, and 4 prisons that have so far provided HIV care and treatment to over 50,000 people. 

One of Chreso main goals since inception has been to provide care and treatment as close to the family as possible and so we employ a two thronged approach to increasing access to health care, these are mobile clinics and community posts; 

Firstly, The mobile clinic approach entails scheduling clinic days in communities and providing comprehensive health services including screening, diagnosis and treatment of both communicable and non-communicable diseases including referral for further care where need be, Antiretroviral therapy for both adults and children living with HIV, Maternal and Child health services, Nutrition support services and in some communities, linkage to economic strengthening activities. 

Secondly, Chreso has also established community health posts in compounds and markets, increasing access to health service for people who would not otherwise go to a health facility. The community based health services approach meets several needs of the vulnerable groups we work with, some of the identified needs in the communities where we work include the following; poor health seeking behaviour mostly due to lack of adequate information, but also due to distance to the nearest health facility, lack of resources to seek treatment, inadequate health workforce in existing government clinics, shortages of essential commodities to provide comprehensive health services, and inadequate psychosocial support services for youth and adolescents living with HIV.