1. Village
Health
Teams
GWED-G, in partnership with GlobeMed,
works to reduce HIV infection and maternal
mortality in Northern Uganda, while preventing
mother-to-child transmission of HIV and other sexually
transmitted infections.
How do we do this?
We work with village structures like VHTs and health center
staff to scale up HIV prevention efforts, integrating them with
maternal health and newborn care.
What is a VHT?
A Village Health Team is a person chosen by their own
community to promote the health and well-being of all
village members. Their purpose is to:
• Mobilize the community for health action
• Promote health to prevent disease
• Treat simple illnesses in the home
• Check for danger signs in the community
• Report community sickness to health workers
• Keep village health records up to date
What are the responsibilities of a VHT?
VHT responsibilities include:
• Action for community improvement
• Taking danger signs to the health unit
• Controlling infection during disease outbreaks
• Referrals for services
• Treatment support at home
• Promoting family planning in the community
• Giving health information to the health unit
Home Visits
Home visits help us find out the health and social needs of
individuals and families. They help us connect to our commu-
nities and keep us aware of our neighbors’ needs.
Who we visit
Why a home visit?
Skills for home visits
For productive home visits, VHTs should
• Get on well with neighbors
• Know about health
• See danger signs
• Always be able to report events in the
community
• Listen to others
• Respect themselves and their
neighbors
• Not judge people
• Respect privacy and
secrecy
• To see any danger signs and save lives
• To link people to health services that can
improve their lives
• To provide care and support to your com-
munity
• To help change
health habits
• To make sure
medicines are
taken correctly
• To take record
of what is in the
home
All homes in the community should be visited, especially those
of
• People who the health worker has asked us to help
• HIV+ pregnant mothers
• Babies and young children born to
HIV+ mothers
• People with disabilites (PWD)
• People with HIV-related mental
illness
• People with social problems

2. • Family planning (child spacing)
• Pregnancy, delivery, and care of newborn
baby
• Adolescent sexual and reproductive health
• Breast feeding
• Food & nutrition
• Abuse & violence
• Immunization
• Mental health
• Water & sanitation
• Hygiene
• First aid
VHTs teach the
community about...
Diseases
Families
Home
• Giving treatment and man-
aging simple illnesses in the
home
• Sexually transmitted diseas-
es such as HIV/AIDS
• Tuberculosis (TB)
How do VHTs help the community?
Record
Model
Save
Lives
Link
Mobilize
Visit
Support
what?
Community mapping
Birth & Death register
Village register
why?
Know up-to-date details of my village and
community
what?
Practice what I teach
why?
The community will see me as a healthy role
model
what?
Know danger signs
Referrals to nearest health
unit
Make sure all children are
immunized
Send all women for health
checks before & after
birth
Make sure all newborn
babies get health checks
Give treatment at home
why?
Health care, treatment, and checks
prevent diseases, disability, and death
what?
Health units and health
workers to my village so the
community gets the ser-
vices it needs
why?
Engaging in health activities together builds
up a healthy community
what?
The village for health
activities
Health workers to attend
to community
Reporting diseases in
village
why?
Engaging in health activities together builds up a
healthy community
what?
Patients at home
Our neighbors for healthy
habits
Community groups for
health talks
why?
To ensure treatment
To improve hygiene and care
To give advice to people on changing
habits
what?
People with
disabilities
HIV+ people
Neighbors with
problems
why?
To see if they are okay, or if they need help
and referrals to people who can help them