The central philosophy of Arm’s Reach Care (ARC), “Everyone A Caregiver,” emphasizes providing maximum care at or as close to home as possible. 

Advances in care and treatment have made HIV/AIDS a manageable disease. With proper nutrition, treatment of opportunistic infections, and adherence to drug regimens, people can live almost normal lives, raising families and contributing to their communities. Using a tiered structure comprising of Family Care Givers, Community Care Assistants and a mobile Nurse, the ARC program delivers a package of critical services to HIV+ infants and children at a low cost/child/year.

Arm's Reach Care creates a network of community health workers and nurses to provide enrollees a wider range of high quality, lower cost care at home. 

Power of Love launched its Arm’s Reach Care program in the Matero compound in Lusaka, Zambia in 2004. Matero is a large sprawling slum in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. The population of Matero is 175,000 and it is estimated that in Matero alone, there are 5000 children infected and dying of HIV/AIDS.

Arm’s Reach Care consists of three levels of care service that identify children infected with HIV and help them and their families live with HIV. Each level, from Family Care Givers to Project Nurse, is more skilled medically. Care providers at each level are trained to provide medical care within their capabilities and to quickly recognize situations that require referral to the next level of care providers. The Matero Care Center provides outpatient service for more critical patients needing professional observation and intervention.

The Arm’s Reach Care Model is different from existing home-based care projects because it relocates ownership and responsibility for care of persons living with HIV/AIDS back into the home.  It also significantly reduces the cost of operations and allows us to deliver the most care for the dollar.

The Family Care Giver (FCG) program allows the FCG a deeper understanding of the components of care for her patient and of her essential role in providing that care. By training FCGs and Community Care Assistants (CCAs), the Arm’s Reach Care model creates a broad base of trained caregivers in the community, facilitating the management of AIDS-related infections.  With the assistance of CCAs, the Project Nurse is able to focus on the more serious cases requiring his/her advanced skills, and to make decisions on referrals to government clinics. Arm’s Reach Care offers a solution to both the shortage of trained health professionals and to the over-burdening of government clinics. Additionally, the model will implement a data capturing and management tool, CHART, to support the CCAs and Nurses and further increase their efficiency.

With its unique philosophy and structure, Arm’s Reach Care constitutes a radical shift from present models by engaging more community members in care-giving, significantly increasing the range of care provided at home, and increasing the output and impact of individual caregivers and of the overall system.