Baylor Eswatini

The social work unit addresses the psychosocial needs of all patients attending Baylor clinics. We offer several services under the mandate, with an emphasis on ART adherence counseling for pa-tients who show detectable viral loads. Disclosure counseling is another service that is provided to patients, particularly children and adolescents, as it is vital to ART adherence. Parents/caregivers are counseled on the importance of disclosure and they are given support as they disclose their HIV status to their children. Follow-up disclosure counselling is also offered to patients who have been recently disclosed to. The unit also works with the Deputy Prime Minister’s (DPM) Office which is responsible for children’s welfare to address some social issues encountered by children and adolescents. Cases where a parent refuses their child to start ART are referred the DPM’s office which then takes the legal route. We also work with the DPM’s office to remove children from harmful environments to safe houses. By the end of the 2016-2017 year, 6,377 patients had been attended to in the social work department.