Circle of Hope (COH) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that became operational on1st September 2005 established by Northmead Assembly of God (NAOG) Church as a direct response to the support group for People Living with HIV& AIDS (PLWHA) within the Church fraternity. On commencement COH realized the need to care and provide for the whole Family and adopted a family centered approach.
Having established symbiotic relationships among poverty,prostitution, alcohol abuse, broken families, street kids and HIV/AIDS, Circle of Hope derived her scope of program activities to include provision of VCT and ART focusing on the treatment and care of people living with HIV &AIDS, Home based Care, Income generating activities, Orphan and Vulnerable Children, Community sensitization and awareness campaigns and the prevention of mother to child transmission program (PMTCT).
This led to the establishment of COH Clinics which included mobile and satellite centers in Lusaka Province and Chisamba in Central Province. Having adopted a holistic approach in tackling the HIV/AIDS pandemic and its drivers, COH has partnered with its sister organizations belonging to NAOG namely, The Lazarus project which has rescued,rehabilitated and trained over 1000 street kids since 2000 and Operation Paseli which has rescued and rehabilitated over 500 Commercial sex workers. COH has provided full comprehensive HIV/AIDS
COH is the hub and flagship carrier for comprehensive HIV/AIDS services provision within the Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAOG) group which has over 1500 churches across the country in every district of Zambia.
Circle of Hope is also a member of the Churches Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ) and the Lusaka District Health Aids Task Force (LDHAT). Through these umbrellas COH has enjoyed service delivery partnerships with several organizations among them Chongwe District Community Health Team, Siavonga District Hospital, University of Zambia Social Work Department, Chreso Ministries Clinics, Makeni Ecumenical Centre Clinic, Makeni Islamic Centre Clinic, Aids Relief (CRS) Clinics (19) etc.
In order to increase data stratification and have a balanced approach and more representative findings of the Oral HIV-Self Test 3ie Zambia pilot intervention, COH has elected to partner with two rural partners Chongwe District Community Health Team (CDCHT) and Siavonga District Hospital. CDCHT runs 18 Rural Health Centres (RHC), 13 Rural Health Posts (RHP)and 1 District Health Hospital. Siavonga District Hospital runs 1 District Hospital and 7 Rural Health Centres. COH will have access to the data collected during the pilot intervention.
COH Clinics, CDCHT and SDH all offer full medical and treatment services to the general public including full HIV VCT,treatment, care and support services irrespective of their social, religious,ethnic or any other status. COH clinics have been financially and technically supported by the United States PEPFAR Funds through the AIDS Relief – Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Children AIDS Fund (CAF) since 2005 and is currently supported Centre for Disease Control (CDC). SDH and the RHCs are also supported by the CDC and GRZ.
Read more on the website here: https://cohzambia.org/