mothers2mothers began operating in Zambia in 2008 with funding from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the New Partners Initiative (NPI). Between 2008 and 2012, m2m Mentor Mothers provided services in the Southern (Livingstone) and Lusaka provinces, in partnership with Development and Aid from People to People until project objectives were met successfully.
m2m re-entered the country in 2016 through the Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Management Programme (CHAMP). This project, which ended in 2018, saw Mentor Mothers being deployed alongside doctors and nurses in Primary Care Support Units, where they provided clinical and complementary support at rural clinics, in response to the evolving health needs of the community.
From August 2017 until November 2022, m2m implemented the USAID-PEPFAR Supporting an AIDS-Free Era (SAFE) programme in the Central and Copperbelt provinces, as a member of a consortium led by John Snow, Inc. SAFE was aimed at increasing HIV testing, treatment, and viral load testing rates to 95%, and improving both nutrition outcomes and the provision of family planning services.
m2m Zambia also pioneered the integration of clinical services into our Model, something which is now increasingly common across m2m countries of operation. A cohort of 132 Mentor Mothers were trained to conduct dried bloodspot testing (DBS) for HIV, helping to ease the patient caseload on nurses and clinicians. This was the first instance of Mentor Mothers expanding beyond their roles of education, health services, and psychosocial support to include clinical aspects of testing for HIV.
In 2019, through funding from LGT Venture Philanthropy and Gilead Sciences, we opened a model site at Chipata First Level Hospital in Lusaka, to showcase our integrated service platform. It is here where Mentor Mothers are providing integrated reproductive maternal and neonatal health care services that include HIV and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) education and testing, facilitated referrals for HIV testing services, provision of HIV treatment adherence counselling and relaying of clinic appointment reminders to clients. This project has since expanded to four new sites: Mandevu, Chazanga, Chaisa, and Ngombe.
In 2021, m2m Zambia also signed a project partnership agreement with UNICEF to strengthen the HIV response and PMTCT among adolescent girls and young women and their infants in Kabwe and Chipata districts in Eastern and Central Provinces. We are also exploring opportunities to integrate early childhood development services into our programme offerings.