The partnership linking Brits District Hospital, located in South Africa's North West Province, and the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD), located in Pretoria, graduated from the Twinning Center's technical assistance program in September 2007.
With funding from PEPFAR and the CDC, this south-south partnership was launched in 2005. Partners worked to support the South African government’s efforts to increase access to ARV treatment and improve the quality of HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and support services provided by the Brits District Hospital HIV/AIDS Clinic and its referral sites.
Specific partnership objectives were to:
- Strengthen the operational and managerial capacity of the Brits HIV/AIDS Clinic;
- Strengthen the capacity of the Brits HIV/AIDS Clinic to provide integrated HIV/AIDS and TB prevention, care, and support services; and
- Strengthen the referral system between the Brits HIV/AIDS Clinic and selected community-based treatment facilities.
At the partnership's close, the Twinning Center reported that Brits HIV/AIDS Clinic and its affiliated referral sites provided ARV services to 1,831 patients, exceeding their target by nearly 400 people.
Efforts to expand VCT services to all four clinics involved in the partnership resulted in marked increases in the number of HIV cases reported, with 60 percent of those tested diagnosed as seropositive.
Other notable achievements include increased physician productivity, development of an operational toolkit that supports standardized care and continuous quality improvement, increased integration of HIV and TB care, and implementation of a wellness program.
Through the partnership, FPD and Brits staff jointly developed and implemented a new standard operating system for the clinic, including newly designed computerized filing systems. New medical and information technology equipment has been installed. These new systems are supplemented by a comprehensive human resource plan that includes staff training and the development of new human resource policies, job descriptions, and marketing strategies.
FPD secured a donation of mobile units from Vodacom, the South African cellular phone service provider, which will be refurbished and transported to referral clinic sites. The partnership also procured mobile trailer units to address space limitations that severely hampered the ability of the clinics to provide services. These units allowed operations to continue at the clinics and helped reduce wait times.
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