THE HERCULES PROJECT
(HIV Integrated Care Unit for Allied Health Services)
Volunteer Opportunity
Are you a Psychologist, Counselor, Nutritionist or Dietician? We are more welcome to join our team as Healthcare Professional volunteers.
Kindly email us your details to vice.president@myklass.org.my
Recruiting status: Open for register
Tentative next training: Jun/Jul 2024
Registration form: https://forms.gle/mJKuHu6LpJXR7Zt89
Notes: Applicants MUST completed a two days HERCULES training module (Basic HIV epidemiology, Introduction to mental and nutritional health in aspect to People Living with HIV and the disease) before embarking for consultation sessions.
*Decision is finalised by respective Head of Units
THE HERCULES is a community-led allied health clinic (Mental health and nutritional health), set up in year 2020 by a group of enthusiastic volunteers from various health sciences background - the HERCULEAN, Healthcare professional volunteer. The HERCULES is currently is one of project under Kuala Lumpur AIDS Support Services Society (KLASS, www.myklass.org).
The consultation sessions are conducted mainly via virtual platforms (call/ google meet) or physically at KLASSroom. The project aims to provides services including screening, primary care consultation as well as basic referral for issues within allied health disciplines. At current (Year 2020-2023), we have two allied health units - mental health and nutritional health. The services are tailored and prioritised for People Living with HIV (PLHIV/PLWH), key populations (TG/SW/MSM/IDU) and their affected friends and family members.
Hundreds of individuals from nationwide used the services and almost a thousand sessions were conducted over the duration of 3 years since its official launching in year 2020!
From left (1) First HERCULES module training with healthcare professional volunteers; (2) Second Year-end Project review and Dialogue with First-line infectious diseases Physician; (3) HERCULES meeting the KLASS EXCO representatives; (4) HERCULES day 1 - The ridiculous yet determined Co-founders, insist to and non-stop providing mental and nutritional health support and consultation for PLHIV, affected key-populations, their friends and family members.
THE CLINICS
MENTAL HEALTH IN PLHIV
A feature story presented by UNAIDS in 2018 had warned about the rising prevalence (1.5%-19%) of mental disorder among people living with HIV (PLHIV) in 5 different continents. A systematic review by Chuah et al. 2017 had concluded that integration models combining HIV and mental health services may provide positive outcomes for patients and service delivery in high income countries. Furthermore, the utilization of tele-health services can increase the accessibility of mental health service delivery and significantly reduce barriers (i.e. stigma, distance and disability) to accessing care.
NUTRITIONAL HEALTH IN PLHIV
Diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidaemia were the most common non-communication diseases (NCDs) observed among PLHIV. The increased of NCDs has created a dual burden of disease around the world, and the issues need to be addressed in the new strategic plan. Beside, patients are vulnerable to medical misinformation on the internet and therefore, professional nutritional counselling and consultation are crucial in providing accurate information about human nutrition and correct method of dietary supplementation. A systematic review by Jalloh et al. had shown the importance of screening for supplementation consumption among PLHIV to prevent treatment failure or adverse event related to food-drug interaction, especially among patients consuming traditional remedies.
