Songosongo: one outreach, four services

Songosongo's permanent health post offers basic primary care but no specialised KVP services. For the EpiC client population, the outreach team is effectively the service.

Eight integrated outreach cycles were delivered to the island in 2024, each combining HIV testing, PrEP, family planning, GBV screening, and tuberculosis symptom screening in a single day-long camp.

One thousand two hundred and sixty contacts were made across the eight cycles. Seven hundred and eighty HIV tests were delivered, of which forty-six were positive — a positivity rate of 5.9 percent, well above the regional average and reflective of the concentrated risk profile of the island economy.

All forty-six clients initiated ART within seven days, with linkage supported by a dedicated peer who travels with the outreach team.

Island outreach is operationally fragile — weather, boat availability, and staff rotations all introduce risk. The team has built a redundant scheduling protocol and a stand-by transport agreement with a local cooperative to keep the cycles on calendar.