ACET International Alliance member organisations provide a wide variety of support including personal care at home, in-patient care, practical assistance, housing provision, drug dependency support, income generation projects and special family/children's programmes including support of African children in housholds where there are no adults, and street / slum projects in India.



It is often children who suffer most: their mother or father dies, and then they end up nursing the surviving parent, and after the funeral they may have to look after themselves, grow their own food, repair their own homes. They may also be infected with HIV themselves and living with uncertainty.

Help for men, women and children is provided by a variety of professionally-trained community support workers and volunteers working in culturally appropriate ways within each nation and each community. In some countries such as Thailand, India and Uganda, ACET-linked programmes are providing residential care or hospital care.

Care needs down in UK but soaring in poorest nations

• In the UK some 50,000 people are living with HIV and AIDS.
  
• Because of new treatments more people in developed nations are now living longer and require continuing care. These anti-viral medicines are very expensive, have to be taken for life and require sophisticated laboratory backup.  These drugs are impossible for poorer nations to provide to all those who are sick, despite recent falls in price and the WHO 3 by 5 initiative.
  
• During 1999 ACET community support workers and volunteers made over 9,000 home visits to over 400 clients in England alone. At one time ACET England (now known as Oasis Esteem) was providing care at home for almost one in ten people with HIV and AIDS living in England and over the years provided community care to more than 1,500 people ill with HIV-related problems.
  
• Community care services in England have been largely wound down due to the huge gains in quality of life for people with HIV after treatment with HIV protease inhibitors, and rapid improvement in statutory services. Small independent care teams continue in Northampton (PIN) and Newcastle (NEAC), where the team is caring for a growing number of women and children with HIV, many of whom have been infected in other nations.
  
• In other countries such as Scotland, Ireland, Thailand , India and Zimbabwe, community care and support programmes provided by ACET International Alliance members are growing rapidly. In Zimbabwe alone, over 1,000 children are being supported as well as 1,000 adults, while an average of two new residential units every week are opened by Positive Steps in Scotland for people who are vulnerable and have particular needs, some of whom may be living with HIV.