Essential Nursing Competencies Related to HIV and AIDS

With nearly 33 million global citizens living with HIV or AIDS, the need for a highly qualified, competent nursing workforce is critical. With the recent increase in global funding to expand access to antiretroviral therapy, there have been considerable efforts to improve the capacity of nurses to initiate and maintain antiretroviral therapy while evaluating its effectiveness, monitoring for side effects, reducing the incidence of drug–drug interactions (including drug interactions related to therapies provided by traditional healers), promoting adherence to therapies, and providing management of symptoms. Therefore, using a participatory action approach, nursing leaders from six sub-Saharan African countries collaborated to develop the essential nursing competencies related to HIV and AIDS. These competencies can help to guide preservice education related to HIV and AIDS, to strengthen in-service or capacity-building programs designed for already qualified nurses, and to guide policy and regulatory reform in the context of task-shifting, task-sharing, and scope of nursing practices. This is an online Supplement to the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. Visit www.nursesinaidscarejournal.org for easy navigation. A Supplement Preview was published in the January/February 2011 issue, Volume 22, Number 1. The Supplement Preview and Online Supplement are supported by grant number U92HA07230 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, funded by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.