God is touching needy children through LifeRise orphan care.
Palliative
come alongside the path
The Need | LifeRise Strategy
Please see Orphans for our current active projects.
The Need
The long road of HIV infection is accompanied by real suffering. Those who come alongside may enhance quality of life through providing palliative care. This is care on the continuum from diagnosis of HIV to death and bereavement for adults and children infected and their family members. Palliative care is more than end-of-life care, as it involves mobilizing clinical, preventive, psychological, social, and spiritual care throughout the entire course of HIV infection.
There is a lack of comprehensive and systematic palliative care in developing countries. The intense and diverse needs of individuals and their families challenge the capacity of community support services. Stigma discourages affected households from accessing available services.
LifeRise Strategy
Local churches and volunteers play a significant role in crossing over the barrier of stigma to provide palliative care and assist community agencies. LifeRise AIDS Resources palliative care projects address broad needs. Clinical palliative care involves routine medical follow-up during the asymptomatic period of HIV infection, management of complications during the symptomatic period, and end-of-life care including pain management. End-of-life care may be home-, community- or hospice-based. It may include care for those who are not candidates for antiretroviral treatment and those with AIDS-accompanying illnesses not responsive to treatment, such as cancers.
Preventive care may include: family-centered HIV prevention and testing; distribution of the antibiotic cotrimoxazole to prevent opportunistic infections; testing and treatment of latent tuberculosis; infant/young child feeding, micronutrients, food supplements, and nutrition counseling; insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria; and point-of-use safe water treatment and safe water storage vessels.
Psychological care may involve counseling for disclosure and bereavement, mental health care, and support groups. Social care may involve linkage to additional services, support for caregivers, efforts to reduce stigma, gender issues, and legal services for succession planning. For spiritual care, please go to Spiritual Care.
