Meet Hillary Hanaimaila, a brilliant psychosocial counsellor working under the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ)’s CDC-funded Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA) programme stationed at St. Francis Hospital in Katete district.

For the past three (3) years, Hillary has been providing mental health services to People Living with HIV (PLWHIV) as a CETA counsellor, providing them a second chance to lead healthier lives.

Fueled by his passion for providing quality healthcare services, Hillary constantly seeks solutions to enhance mental health services for PLWHIV. He is recognised for his instrumental role in enhancing St. Francis Hospital’s performance in CETA services by designing quality improvement (QI) initiative that improved the CETA programme completion rate at his station from 17% to 80% in 2023.

As the QI initiative was coming to an end in May 2023, client enrollment experienced an increase from 3 to 7 clients per month, with a considerable reduction in missed appointments.

Due to this success, Hillary had an opportunity to present his QI initiative at the regional Quality Improvement Conference held in Lusaka, where he scooped the first position under the sub-theme ‘Listening to Patients to Improve Healthcare.

He attributes his achievement to the intensive mental health training provided by CIDRZ’s CDC-sponsored CETA programme in collaboration with the Ministry of Health through the Eastern Province Health Office, which empowered him with the necessary skills to enhance mental health services at his workstation.

“With the skills I acquired from the CETA training, I can do wonders in mental health services,” says Hillary.

Hillary says his award at the regional Quality Improvement Conference has motivated him to embark on another quality improvement initiative  aimed at improving mental health services for adolescents living with HIV.

CIDRZ is proud of Hillary and other CETA providers like him working hard to support PLWHIV lead healthier lives.