DR-TB is a threat to global tuberculosis prevention, control and treatment programs. Treatment is complicated by adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to second-line TB drugs. An adverse event is any undesirable experience associated with the use of a medical product in a patient. There is a lack of data on the discordance between patient self-report and clinician records of ADRs during DR-TB treatment, which may impact treatment outcomes such as adherence or retention in
South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV globally, with 4.7 million women ≥15 years old living with HIV as of 2018.1 The country is targeting but has not achieved elimination of mother-to-child HIV transmission. The national estimate of early HIV transmission was 2.6% in 2012-2013.2 South Africa’s policy for providing antiretroviral therapy (ART) to pregnant women living with HIV (WLWH) has changed over time, following the World Health Organization’s (WHO)
About 210,000 new HIV infections in South Africa in 20211 An HIV incidence of 6.90 per 1000 population among adults 15-491 Total new infections (globally) having declined by just 31% since 2010 far short of the 2016 UN General Assembly target of 75% for 20202 Key populations (KPs) and their sexual partners are accounting for a higher proportion of new infections 51% of new HIV infections in SSA occurred in KPs and their sexual partners As of 2021, UNAIDS key populations
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted vulnerabilities in the global health-system and its capacity to respond timeously to health-crisis South Africa was not an exception, with growing concerns over limited bed capacity in the hospitals to accommodate the rapidly rising case numbers at the start of the pandemic¹ To better prepare health-systems for future pandemics, cost projection models are required to inform budgets and efficient resource-allocation² A key aspect of cost
Pre-treatment death and loss-to-follow-up remained unaffected over the years (p>0.05); however, the proportion of untraceable patients was significantly lower after 2017 (<6%) compared to 10-15% in previous years. After 2017, there was a sustained increase in those successfully traced and referred for treatment (>75% of diagnosed), and those successfully linked to care. Compared to prior years, mean time from specimen collection to when the sub-district was notified significantly
Adolescents and young people living with HIV are at risk of disengaging from HIV care at all stages of the care cascade. Differentiated models of care offer simplified HIV-service delivery options in the hope of improving treatment outcomes, including retention on antiretroviral therapy. However, it remains unclear how successful and widespread these models are for adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, where the burden of HIV is the greatest. Very few differentiated models of care specifically
HE²RO is pleased to announce that we will be at the 17th annual public health conference that will be held in Durban from 11 - 14 September. The aim of the conference is to engage public health practitioners and like-minded individuals from around South Africa and globally to share their experiences, research, discuss public health issues, mentor public health students, and young
We developed a Motivational Interviewing (MI) training program for lay HIV counsellors in South Africa – branded the Thusa-Thuso program. We present the results of a pre- and post- pilot study to determine its impact on MI technical skills and qualitative assessment of the feasibility of a training- of-trainers (TOT) scale-up among non-governmental (NGO) partners of the HIV treatment program in South
The spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to South Africa in early 2020 has impacted South Africa’s health system and led to public health measures to reduce the spread of the virus. We sought to explore the experiences, challenges and responses of health-care workers based in public healthcare facilities in the Gauteng Province of South Africa provisions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or the government response to COVID-19.
The Ideal Clinic Realisation and Maintenance (ICRM) programme initiated in 2013 aimed at systematically correcting historical deficiencies and improving the quality of Primary Health Care (PHC) at public sector clinics in South Africa. We examine the progression of PHC facilities to ICRM platinum certification status and healthcare workers’ perspective on the implementation of ICRM towards achieving platinum status.
Within the context of the novel coronavirus pandemic and new challenges to a resource-constrained public healthcare system, many healthcare workers in South Africa have faced numerous stressors that have compromised their mental health. While the current literature on COVID-19 in South Africa highlights the widespread psychosocial stress experienced by healthcare workers during the pandemic, little is known about the coping strategies utilized to continue service delivery and maintain one’s
The Ideal Clinic Realisation and Maintenance (ICRM) programme initiated in 2013 aimed at systematically correcting historical deficiencies and improving the quality of Primary Health Care (PHC) at public sector clinics in South Africa. We examine the progression of PHC facilities to ICRM platinum certification status and healthcare workers’ perspective on the implementation of ICRM towards achieving platinum
