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What we are Doing
  • A traditional healer encourages people to step forward and test for HIV.
    Siyayinqoba: Beat It! Conquers Fear of HIV Testing

    Siyayinqoba Beat It!, a South African magazine show produced by the Community Health Media Trust (CMT) discusses hard-hitting topics about people living with HIV. Not content with using a mass media to reach out on a national level, CMT goes one step further. 

  • Archbishop Tutu (c) blesses the quilt panel as Cathedral Dean Rev. Michael Weeder (r) delivers it to U.S. Consul General Erica Barks-Ruggles
    Desmond Tutu Blesses Panel From AIDS Quilt Returning to Washington

    Moments after it was lowered from its prominent position in Cape Town’s St. George’s Anglican Cathedral, Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu blessed a panel from the AIDS Memorial Quilt and handed it over to U.S. Consul General Erica Barks-Ruggles June 22 for shipment to Washington, D.C. 

  • Miners
    "Thibela TB” has Miners Covered

    PEPFAR partner Aurum finds that a 40c per day preventive treatment can reduce TB cases among miners by 63% 

  • ICAP Leaves Proud Legacy in Eastern Cape
    ICAP Leaves Proud Legacy in Eastern Cape

    PEPFAR is working closely with its non-governmental partners and various national and provincial South African government departments to transition clinical services to the South African Government. One of these PEPFAR partners is the Columbia University’s International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP), which has cemented its legacy in the Eastern Cape Province by officially handing over five newly renovated clinics to the South African government.  

  • PEPFAR Partner EGPAF’s Successful Project Transitions to South African Organizations
    PEPFAR Partner EGPAF’s Successful Project Transitions to South African Organizations

    After 12 years of work in South Africa, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), one of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief’s (PEPFAR) first implementation partners in South Africa, transitioned its successful program to two local organizations in February 2012. 

  • Patients and Nurses outside the Witkoppen Health and Welfare Centre counselling rooms in Johannesburg.
    Ngwako Makgaba’s triumph over adversity

    Five years ago, Ngwako Makgaba was down and, with a CD4 count of 105, almost literally out. In 2000, he was diagnosed HIV positive. Six years later, he was unemployed, living in the informal squatting type community of Diepsloot, at his mother’s shack. His brother had just died of AIDS. 

  • Sihle Lawana, one of South Africa’s first Clinical Associates, consults with a patient at Victoria Hospital in the Eastern Cape Province.
    First class of Clinical Associates graduates to help rural communities

    A PEPFAR-supported partnership provides technical assistance to support a new program for training mid-level medical professionals who will serve rural populations. 

ICAP Leaves Proud Legacy in Eastern Cape

Dr. Pamela Marks (CDC) and Ms Makwedini (Eastern Cape Department of Health) officially open a newly renovated health facility.

Dr. Pamela Marks (CDC) and Ms Makwedini (Eastern Cape Department of Health) officially open a newly renovated health facility.

On a sweltering day in East London (affectionately known as Buffalo City by the locals), South African government and (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) partners gathered to celebrate eight years of dedicated public health support by Columbia University’s International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) in South Africa. 

The strong relationship between the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ICAP and the Eastern Cape Department of Health first started in 2003 first with CDC providing support through Clinton’s LIFE Initiative, which was quickly followed with PEPFAR funding in 2004.

“We started this HIV program together. There were so many fires to put out and lots of gaps”, said Ms. Nomalanga Makwedini, Deputy Director General, Eastern Cape Department of Health. “ICAP came in at the right time, when we started providing antiretrovirals in 2003.

As a province we did not have the knowledge.  We were fortunate that CDC funded you, and you could help,” she continued.  

With the launch of PEPFAR, there was a rush to provide care and treatment to underserved populations, and “track 1” programs that employed established international organizations were used to assist with the scale up. ICAP was one of four “track 1” partners recruited to jump-start programs in South Africa.

Today all these programs are transitioning their services to local government – and all, like ICAP, have left solid foundations on which the South African facilities can build and grow. As Dr.

Pamela Marks from CDC commented “It is only with the monumental contribution of partners like ICAP that South Africa has reached this point in the HIV epidemic.”

ICAP’s program was a phenomenal success at providing life-saving care and treatment to thousands of adults and children living with HIV, primarily because the organization always walked step in step with the South African government.

Together, ICAP and the province identified problems and implemented solutions.


 “It has been a wonderful and fruitful partnership working with the Eastern Cape. Our roots in South Africa are right here and we feel very privileged to have worked here,” said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, ICAP global director. 

ICAP cemented their legacy in the Eastern Cape by officially handing over five newly renovated clinics to the government.

The facilities are in Mdantsane, reputed to be the second largest township in South Africa after Soweto.

Since the program’s inception, ICAP has helped nearly 100,000 adults and almost 8,000 children start antiretroviral therapy. 

In addition, ICAP started strengthening the health system early on: developing reporting and monitoring systems, providing skilled staff, and training and mentoring existing staff.

These programs will be handed over to two local district support partners, Health Systems Trust and Aurum Research Foundation.

And as one chapter closes, another opens.  ICAP is not about to leave South Africa; the ties are too strong. 

With CDC funding, ICAP will continue doing what it does best by helping to strengthen facilities in the OR Tambo district in the Eastern Cape.

ICAP has also been funded to lead several evaluations in South Africa including pediatric HIV treatment and one on populations at higher risk of HIV infection.


They will also conduct multi-country study on medical male circumcision in several southern African countries.

Finally, in collaboration with the University of Cape Town, ICAP will investigate and develop TB/HIV training courses for clinicians and infection control diplomas for clinic staff. 

Ms Sindisa Gede, Acting District Manager for Amatole, concluded the day’s commemorations, saying “The footprints of ICAP will never fade from our hearts. 

ICAP has done their part in ensuring that things are happening and systems are in place.  Now it is for us to ensure that we keep your standards and carry it forward.  Shine, ICAP, shine!”  

Themba Lethu HIV/TB Clinic celebrates 20 years

Patients being assisted at the TB Unit of Themba Lethu Clinic at Helen Joseph Hospital, Johannesburg

 

Themba Lethu Clinic, one of the country’s oldest HIV treatment clinics, a centre of excellence for HIV and TB, celebrated its twentieth anniversary in November 2012.
The clinic was established in 1992, in response to the massive threat posed by HIV in the days when ARVs were not available in South African public healthcare facilities.
For the last eight years the clinic has been operating as a partnership between Helen Joseph Hospital and the NGO Right to Care. 
Academic, clinic, and research support is provided by the Clinical HIV Research Unit (CHRU), which is affiliated to the University of the Witwatersrand and has offices alongside the clinic. 
Funding is provided by the Department of Health and by the U.S. President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through USAID.
Themba Lethu’s staff complement of 60 cares for 13,000 patients on antiretroviral therapy. From 2004 to 2012, 38 000 patients have been initiated on antiretroviral therapy. 
Per year, the clinic performs over 10 000 HIV tests, initiate over 150 patients on antiretroviral therapy per week and diagnose over 2000 TB patients per year. Daily, 600 or more patients are seen at the clinic.
In addition to ARV treatment, the clinic offers a number of integrated services. These include medical male circumcision, HIV counselling and testing, TB diagnosis and treatment, and cervical cancer screening and treatment.
Since 2004, USAID, with funding from PEPFAR has been a major funder of the clinic.
Right to Care’s Prof Ian Sanne says, “Funding and support from USAID has played a key role in mounting a response to the epidemic. Coincidentally this year saw the ending of five-year grant from USAID and I am pleased to be able to announce that USAID has awarded Right to Care a grant for a further five years, with continued support for the clinic until 2017, at which point Themba Lethu will be 25 years old.”
Themba Lethu Milestones
1992       Themba Lethu Clinic established at the then JG Strydom Hospital
2003       Agreement reached for Right to Care to support Themba Lethu Clinic
2004       Themba Lethu Clinic moves into new clinic building, funded by PEPFAR, through Right to Care
2008       TherapyEdge (patient management system) goes live (online in realtime)
2009       Launch of PMTCT and Paediatric HIV programmes
2009       Launch of Cervical Cancer programme
2009       Launch of the TextAlert SMS service to reduce patient loss-to-follow-up
2008       TB Focal Point established and a sputum induction facility established
2010       Launch of the pioneering computer system integration between Themba Lethu Clinic and the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS)
2010       Launch of biometric identification for logging staff attendance

Themba Lethu Clinic, one of the country’s oldest HIV treatment clinics, a centre of excellence for HIV and TB, celebrated its twentieth anniversary in November 2012.

The clinic was established in 1992, in response to the massive threat posed by HIV in the days when ARVs were not available in South African public healthcare facilities.

For the last eight years the clinic has been operating as a partnership between Helen Joseph Hospital and the NGO Right to Care. 

Academic, clinic, and research support is provided by the Clinical HIV Research Unit (CHRU), which is affiliated to the University of the Witwatersrand and has offices alongside the clinic. 

Funding is provided by the Department of Health and by the U.S. President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through USAID.

Themba Lethu’s staff complement of 60 cares for 13,000 patients on antiretroviral therapy. From 2004 to 2012, 38 000 patients have been initiated on antiretroviral therapy. 

Per year, the clinic performs over 10 000 HIV tests, initiate over 150 patients on antiretroviral therapy per week and diagnose over 2000 TB patients per year. Daily, 600 or more patients are seen at the clinic.

In addition to ARV treatment, the clinic offers a number of integrated services. These include medical male circumcision, HIV counselling and testing, TB diagnosis and treatment, and cervical cancer screening and treatment.

Since 2004, USAID, with funding from PEPFAR has been a major funder of the clinic.

Right to Care’s Prof Ian Sanne says, “Funding and support from USAID has played a key role in mounting a response to the epidemic. Coincidentally this year saw the ending of five-year grant from USAID and I am pleased to be able to announce that USAID has awarded Right to Care a grant for a further five years, with continued support for the clinic until 2017, at which point Themba Lethu will be 25 years old.”

Themba Lethu Milestones

1992   Themba Lethu Clinic established at the then JG Strydom Hospital

2003   Agreement reached for Right to Care to support Themba Lethu Clinic

2004   Themba Lethu Clinic moves into new clinic building, funded by PEPFAR, through Right to Care

2008       TherapyEdge (patient management system) goes live (online in realtime)
2009       Launch of PMTCT and Paediatric HIV programmes
2009       Launch of Cervical Cancer programme
2009       Launch of the TextAlert SMS service to reduce patient loss-to-follow-up
2008       TB Focal Point established and a sputum induction facility established
2010       Launch of the pioneering computer system integration between Themba Lethu Clinic and the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS)
2010       Launch of biometric identification for logging staff attendance