Care & Treatment Sub Award, Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality

Programmatic Implementation and Technical Assistance (TA) for HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB) Prevention, Care, and Treatment Services throughout the Health System in South Africa under PEPFAR – SA

Rationele

South Africa is at the forefront of the global AIDS response and has made progress in the fight against HIV. Although the country has the world’s largest HIV treatment programme, challenges remain in preventing new infections and reducing morbidity and mortality. In 2017, South Africa’s burden of HIV infection was an estimated 7,203,313 of people living with HIV. Of these, only 53% access life-saving antiretroviral treatment through the country’s public health care facilities.

Wits RHI’s Tshwane District Support Programme supports HIV & TB prevention care and treatment services in the fifth largest metropolitan municipality in South Africa. The programme comprises direct service delivery (DSD), technical assistance, capacity development and provision of technical and material support to Tshwane Health District and City of Tshwane Health Department primary care facilities and selected hospitals. The approach of the programme is to leverage key innovations, such as Enhanced Adherence Clubs for patients failing on treatment, multiple methods and delivery models for Central Chronic Medicine Dispensing and Distribution (CCMDD), Adolescent and Youth Friendly Services, innovative HIV Self-screening, community HIV testing and ART initiation to ensure a comprehensive package of services that meets the wide-ranging needs of patient groups across the HIV and TB continuum of care within the COVID-19 context.

Primary Objectives

Project Goal: To improve and expand comprehensive clinical and non-clinical differentiated HIV care and treatment services that will accelerate and sustain HIV epidemic control in South Africa and integrating the COVID-19 contextual requirements.

Project Components:

• Component 1: Preventing new HIV infections and reducing HIV morbidity and mortality through an improved and sustained HIV and TB Continuum of Care by: Increasing the proportion of people living with HIV who know their status, Increasing the proportion of people living with HIV who are on treatment, and Increasing the proportion of people living with HIV wo know their status, increasing the proportion of people living on HIV who are virally suppressed.
• Component 2: Strengthening District Health Systems in support of the HIV and TB Continuum of Care. This will include Health Workforce Strengthening, Data management support, strengthening Health Management Information Systems, District Health/Implementation Planning, Health Financing, Service Delivery Quality Improvement, Leadership, Management and Governance, Laboratory Systems and District pharmacists. .

Invetigators

• Programme Head: Dr John Imrie
• Head HIV/TB Care & Treatment Programme: Dr. Josephine Otchere-Darko
• M&E Lead: Qinisile Sibanda
• Operations Lead: Cathy Skosana
• Community Services Lead: Khensani Nkuna
• Facility Care & Treatment Technical Head: Lawrence Thlowe

Donor

PEPFAR through United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Latest Update: 15 February 2021

For more about Care & Treatment Sub Award, Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality please email rhicomms@wrhi.ac.za