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In this Issue:
Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator: PEPFAR and Mobile Phone Industry Leaders Join Forces: New Public-Private Partnership Leverages Technology to Connect Health Care Systems [more]
Haiti: Haiti Conducts Training in Stock Management [more]
South Africa: South Africa Small Grants Program Yields Impressive Results [more]
Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator: 2007 HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting Announces Call for Abstracts [more]
PEPFAR and Mobile Phone Industry Leaders Join Forces:
New Public-Private Partnership Leverages Technology to Connect Health Care Systems
At the GSM World Congress on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2007, Ambassador Mark Dybul, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, announced a cutting-edge, $10 million public-private partnership between the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Emergency Plan/PEPFAR) and leading players in the mobile phone industry.
Through the Phones-for-Health Alliance, PEPFAR’s partnership with the GSM Association Development Fund, Accenture Development Partners, Motorola, MTN and Voxiva will leverage technology to connect health systems in 10 PEPFAR- supported countries by 2010 — addressing the need for a health care infrastructure to adequately address the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Phones-for-Health will make timely, relevant information available to program managers and service providers, while also helping PEPFAR achieve its ambitious goals — to support treatment for two million HIV-infected people, support prevention of seven million new infections, and support care for 10 million people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in an accountable and sustainable way.
The alliance will work in close collaboration with Ministries of Health and other global health partners to use the widespread and increasing mobile phone coverage in the developing world to strengthen health systems. The partnership will develop an integrated set of standard information solutions that support the scale-up of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, and other infectious disease programs in a cost-effective manner that builds local capacity.
PEPFAR’s initial support of $2 million to the Phones-for-Health Alliance will help expand the existing mobile phone network in Rwanda and Nigeria in 2007.
“People living with HIV in the developing world deserve high-quality treatment and care, and this innovative partnership will ensure that health workers and program managers get the timely, relevant information they need -- even when they serve patients in the most remote areas,” Ambassador Dybul said.
Phones-for-Health will allow health workers in the field to use a standard Motorola handset equipped with a downloadable application to enter health data. Once entered, the data is transferred via a packet based mobile connection (GPRS) into a central database. If GPRS is not available, the software can use a SMS data channel to transmit the information. The data is then mapped and analyzed by the system, and is immediately available to health authorities at multiple levels via the web. The system also supports SMS alerting and other tools for communication with field staff.
In many African countries, fixed-line Internet connections are rare and paper forms are still the primary way of recording the spread of disease. But more than 60 percent of the population now lives in areas with mobile phone coverage and the GSMA expects that figure to rise to 85 percent by 2010. This makes it feasible to use mobile phones to relay this information directly into health authorities’ computer systems, allowing rapid interventions such as distribution of medication and education programs for those at risk. MTN, which operates in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East, is the first operator partner in this program and will support the roll out of handsets and the underlying data service.
The Phones-for-Health alliance builds on the partners’ successful experience in Rwanda deploying a system built by Voxiva called TRACnet. Working in close co-operation with the Government of Rwanda and PEPFAR, the system has been used for the last two years to manage that country’s national HIV/AIDS program. “This technology is revolutionizing how data is captured in the field,” said Dr. Louis Munyakaze, Director General of Rwanda’s National Institute of Statistics.
“With TRACnet, we have a powerful tool to manage the HIV and AIDS programs and deliver care to Rwanda’s patients affected by HIV and AIDS. Health care workers use something as simple as a cell-phone – even where there is no electricity – to report on the number of patients on treatment, drug stock levels and the other key data we need,” Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Executive Secretary, Rwanda’s National AIDS Control Commission said.
“Rwanda is the first country in Africa with a national-scale, real-time information system to manage its HIV and AIDS programs. We believe this can be a model for scaling up HIV and AIDS programs across Africa and can be extended to TB, malaria and other diseases.”
In the future, the partnership is likely to be extended further in Africa and Asia to address TB, malaria and other infectious diseases. |
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How does “Phones-for-Health” Work?
“Phones for Health” is building on the work of the GSM Association Development Fund, Voxiva, Motorola and the U.S. Government to pilot mobile-phone based solutions for HIV/AIDS care and treatment in PEPFAR-supported countries.
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- The system allows health workers to report data from the field using their mobile phones, as well as PCs and PDAs.
- Once entered, the data is mapped and analyzed by the system and made immediately available to health authorities at multiple levels via the web.
- The system also supports SMS alerting and notification and tools for communication and coordination with field staff.
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Haiti Conducts Training in Stock Management
In Haiti, scale-up of HIV/AIDS treatment and care programs has increased the importance of maintaining an uninterrupted, secure supply of inventory. Local health care workers must be able to manage the inventory of essential antiretroviral drugs and medicines for opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis. However resources to train workers are often limited.
In order to maximize available training resources, the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS), with support from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Emergency Plan/PEPFAR), held a training of trainers in inventory management. The training produced a new cadre of “master trainers.”
“This training has inspired me to go and train others in logistics for HIV commodities,” one participant said.
The new “master trainers” had the opportunity to do just that. With the assistance of two SCMS trainers, the new “master trainers” conducted a training session for staff from PEPFAR and other partner organizations. Forty staff members, primarily pharmacists, attended the course. The attendees are responsible for managing stocks of essential medicine and supplies at HIV/AIDS treatment sites. The mission of SCMS is to strengthen supply chain systems to deliver an uninterrupted supply of high-quality, low-cost products that will flow through a transparent and accountable system. By building the capacity of these trainers, SCMS aims to contribute to long-term, sustainable improvements of the supply chain in Haiti.
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South Africa Small Grants Program Yields Impressive Results
After completing its first year of implementation, the Ambassador’s HIV/AIDS Small Grants Program in South Africa met or exceeded program targets. In fiscal year (FY) 2006, the program presented 75 grants totaling approximately $700,000. This is an increase from FY 2005 when the program awarded 51 grants totaling approximately $450,000.
The Ambassador’s HIV/AIDS Small Grant program, with support from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Emergency Plan/PEPFAR), awards grants of less than $10,000 to community-based organizations providing HIV/AIDS services. Many grant recipients are now considered leaders and experts in their communities and are mentoring other organizations interested in applying for grants.
The grants have supplied small, community-based organizations with the resources to expand their programs and apply for larger PEPFAR grants. The organizations work at the grassroots level and use grant money to assist orphans and vulnerable children, support prevention activities, and fund palliative or home-based care programs.
The following examples illustrate how the small grant program is assisting organizations in South Africa to provide HIV/AIDS services in their communities.
Ikhaya Le Themba Home-Based Care Project:
In the Cape Town township of Khayelitsha, the Ikhaya Le Themba Home-Based Care Group provides basic services and support for home-bound patients. In 2005, the organization was awarded a $10,000 grant to purchase nursing supplies and uniforms for the caregivers, who are now recognized as “professionals” in their neighborhood.
On their daily rounds, caregivers wash and feed patients, dress their wounds, assist them with exercise, and do their washing and cleaning. Since the Ikhaya Le Themba Group received the grant, the number of patients receiving care has more than doubled -- from 50 to 111.
Ikhaya was founded in 2003 by 24 women and two men who wanted to help their chronically and terminally ill neighbors who did not have proper health care. However, without income or outside support, the group struggled to meet the needs of their patients. They grew herbs to treat wounds and vegetables to cook soup for their sick patients.
The grant has provided Ikhaya with the means to not only care for more patients, but also to gain respect and recognition with the community. More men now volunteer for the “critical home maintenance program”— fixing leaking homes and installing locks on houses to keep patients safe. Another local group also works with Ikhaya to produce educational dramas.
“You gave us an identity,” Theresa Richardson, one of the group leaders said.
Moletjie Community Radio Project:
The Moletjie Community Radio Station in rural Limpopo Province received a grant of $5,500 to purchase a generator and conduct HIV/AIDS educational road shows at rural high schools in 2005. The station has increased its listenership to 450,000 people in approximately 180 villages and has hosted more than 20 road shows reaching approximately 180,000 students.
The generator ensures that the radio station can continue broadcasting during the community’s frequent power outages. The road show focuses on helping students understand the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the importance of knowing their HIV/AIDS status. It also encourages them to get tested and teaches them how to live responsibly. The road shows have become major community events; presenters include local pastors, community leaders, AIDS educators, and of course DJs playing hip hop music and holding contests. |
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2007 HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting Announces Call for Abstracts
“Scaling Up Through Partnerships”
Meeting Information and Abstract Submission Guidelines Available Online at: http://www.hivimplementers.com
The HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting will take place June 16-19, 2007 in Kigali, Rwanda and this year’s theme is “Scaling Up Through Partnerships.”
The Conference Steering Committee invites program implementers to submit abstracts that illustrate key programmatic steps, tools, successes and challenges, including any results from recent public health evaluations and studies. The final deadline for abstract submissions is March 15, 2007.
Abstract reviewers will prioritize abstracts clearly demonstrating one or more of the following implementation experiences including:
- Critical steps, tools, approaches used to achieve specific programmatic successes
- Flexibility and response to unforeseen challenges
- Local leadership and expertise from the country and/or region of program
- Meaningful involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) as providers and implementation experts
- Using partnerships to achieve results that would not be possible alone
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Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator
2100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20522 |
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