TxtAlert Partners and Pilots
1. Right to Care @ Themba Lethu Clinic
Right to Care is a non-profit organization that provides access to ART (Anti-Retroviral Therapy) for individuals who cannot afford it. It works in partnership with the South African Government and other NGOs at more than 50 clinic-sites across South Africa. One of these sites is Themba Lethu Clinic, based at Helen Joseph Hospital in South-West Johannesburg. Right to Care's Themba Lethu clinic is the largest public health facility in South Africa that treats HIV positive people with ART - currently treating over 7000 HIV-positive patients. This number is expected to double by the end of 2008. While treating over 250 patients per day, 5% of appointments are missed and approximately 20% of new patients are lost to follow up. Patients who miss their appointments, often show up on the wrong day and either wait 8-10 hours to be seen or are turned away.
Preliminary results at Right to Care's Themba Lethu Clinic has shown that TxtAlert helped to reduce the LTFU (Lost To Follow Up) rate, i.e. patients that do not attend clinic appointments regularly, to less than 4% of the 7000 patients on ARVs at the clinic. The past year has also seen a steady increase in the numbers of patients who make use of the PCM - 'please call me' service to reschedule their clinic appointments free of charge. This is an indication that patients are getting more familiar with the product and are using it more frequently. The success of this pilot phase at Right to Care's Themba Lethu clinic has prompted clinic management to request a roll-out of the service to all the smaller down-referral clinics that refer patients for ARV treatment to Themba Lethu. In partnership with Right to Care, Wits University and Therapy Edge, Inc., Praekelt Foundation will further develop appropriate approaches to measure the impact of the intervention on patient health.
2. iTeach @ Edendale Hospital
Praekelt Foundation is funded by Pop!Tech in the USA to build on the strengths of the pilot-phase of TxtAlert at Themba Lethu Clinic. Praekelt Foundation will roll out TxtAlert to support the work of iTeach, an HIV and TB organization working in Edendale Hospital, Kwazulu Natal. We plan this roll-out for the second half of 2009. Edendale hospital is in the epicentre of the HIV and TB epidemics in South Africa, with 37.4% of the population infected with HIV, according to the latest 2007 National Department of Health Statistics. We aim to, at Edendale, not only use TxtAlert as a reminder messaging system for HIV-patients, but also to extend the service to patients who are co-infected with TB as well. This roll-out of TxtAlert to Kwazulu Natal forms part of our work in Project Masiluleke which is currently featured under our Project Spotlight section.
Click here to read more about Project Masiluleke and about the work iTeach is doing at Edendale Hospital