PANCAP facilitated a study tour for seven (7) partners at the Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL) organisation in Kingston, Jamaica on August 8-11. Led by PANCAP Knowledge Coordinator, Dr Shanti Singh-Anthony, the study tour titled the ‘South-to-South Learning Exchange’, aimed to expose the partners to JASL’s model of care delivery including the antiretroviral (ART) delivery model. The activity forms part of the initiatives under the PANCAP Knowledge for Health Project (Official project web page here).

Objectives

The participants from Barbados, Guyana and The Bahamas toured JASL’s facilities and were provided with first-hand information on JASL’s operations. Dr Singh-Anthony explained, ‘the study tour focused on providing participants with a full illustration of the model of care delivery. Participants were provided with information on the factors contributing to the successful delivery of comprehensive HIV prevention, care, treatment and support services by JASL including the provision of ART to key populations’.

The study tour also aimed to illustrate for participants the degree and mechanisms of coordination and collaboration between JASL and the Ministry of Health (Jamaica) in supporting the scale up of HIV prevention, care and treatment services to key populations. In addition, the study tour facilitated knowledge sharing and exchange among participants on 90-90-90 and Treat All.

Outcomes and next steps

Dr Singh-Anthony emphasized that one of the key outcomes of the tour would be the development of country specific action plans to enhance in-country collaboration among National AIDS Programme Managers and Civil Society Organisations. ‘One of our final activities is the preparation of work plans by participants based on the knowledge and best practice steps garnered from JASL’, stated Dr Singh-Anthony, ‘our intention is that the study tour achieves actionable steps that participants can incorporate into their own models of delivery to improve health outcomes for people living with HIV’.

Capturing a best practice

The JASL Model of Care and other key operational activities will be documented and shared with the entire Partnership as well as the study tour experience. The documentation was facilitated by Ms Kathi Fox of the Knowledge for Health Project, Baltimore, Maryland. In addition, all participants will be sharing their experiences in the form of blogs which will be highlighted on the study tour web page on PANCAP.org available here.