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Counselor

The Counselor works primarily within the HIV and public health programme. They provide pre-test and post-test counselling, manage clients enrolled in the HIV/ART programme, track adherence, and record data for TB, hepatitis, family planning, and immunization services. Their work is longitudinal. They follow clients across many visits over months and years.

What they see when they log in​

The Counselor sees the public health programme dashboard, their active HIV client list, pending follow-up visits, and any programme-specific alerts (clients due for viral load, clients who have missed an appointment, index contacts not yet traced).

What they can do​

HIV Testing Services (HTS) The Counselor records pre-test counselling sessions, the test itself (reactive or non-reactive), and post-test counselling. Reactive results automatically flag the client for enrolment in the ART programme.

ART programme management For HIV-positive clients, the Counselor manages the programme record:

  • Initial clinical staging and baseline investigations
  • ART initiation and regimen documentation
  • Regular follow-up visit records (clinical findings, adherence, side effects)
  • Viral load monitoring and suppression status
  • Enhanced Adherence Counselling (EAC) sessions for clients with adherence challenges
  • ART discontinuation recording (transfer out, loss to follow-up, death)

Index Contact Tracing When a client tests positive, the Counselor records their known contacts: partners, children, and other household members. The tracing record tracks whether each contact has been reached, tested, and what their result was. All contact records are linked to the index client without duplicating patient records.

Other programme areas The Counselor also records:

  • Hepatitis B and C programme visits
  • Family planning consultations and method dispensing
  • Immunization records (childhood schedules and tetanus)
  • PMTCT-related data for pregnant women in the HIV programme

What they cannot access​

The Counselor's access is scoped to the public health programme. OPD consultations they did not create, routine lab orders, prescriptions, billing records, and triage data are outside their view. Lab results linked to their own programme clients are an exception and are visible within the programme record.

A typical programme visit​

A client on ART comes in for their three-month follow-up. The Counselor opens their programme record and sees the client's last viral load result (obtained six weeks ago) and their current regimen. They conduct the adherence check. The client reports occasional missed doses. The Counselor documents the visit, initiates the EAC tracking record, and schedules the next follow-up in three months. The entire visit is documented in the system. When the client's next viral load result comes back from the lab, it automatically updates their programme record.