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Operations
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HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and
hypertension are major challenges
to healthcare development in the
African region. These diseases all
share the common point that patients
must be regularly tracked to ensure
they take medicine on a regular basis
or complete the course of treatment,
to control the disease and have the
effects of medication.
To solve the problem of continuing
high treatment default rate in southern
Africa for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis
and hypertension patients, the
TaiwanICDF is drawing on Taiwan’s
experience in individual-case
management, long-term tracking and
excellent care in communicable and
non-communicable diseases, and
working with Luke International (LIN)
to jointly implement this project. LIN
has had many years of experience
working in Africa and has a very
close cooperative relationship with
the Pingtung Christian Hospital in
Taiwan.
Integrate Medical Information,
Improve Follow-upTracking
The goal of this project is to
effectively reduce treatment default
rate in southern African (South Africa
and Malawi) government-partnered
hospitals among in-patient mobile
populations and those suffering
from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and
hypertension.
Planned as a three-year program,
the project started in 2014 and
includes the following main tasks:
1. Strengthen and integrate the health
management information systems
(HMIS) in three districts of two
countries within the south African
region.
2. Provide services and information to
mobile populations.
3. Build capacity for tracking mobile
populations and creating a care
network.
4. Advocate health promotion issues
among cross-border patients and
mobile populations.
In 2015, in line with a
previously set objective,
a mobile PACS system
was introduced into
two district hospitals in
Malawi, and cooperating
hospitals continued to
receive assistance to
complete subsequent
system troubleshooting
and work optimization.
In addition to printing
and d i ssemi na t i ng
more than 40,000 copies of health
education pamphlets, in capacity
building the project also brought
a number of system engineers,
radiologists and HMIS managers
to Taiwan for training, and local
training workshops were held for
system users. With regard to cross-
border patients and health promotion
issues, a regional forum was held
and a cross-section epidemiological
research report on the Malawi mobile
population was completed and
presented to the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) for
its reference.
According to the findings of our
supervision mission conducted this
year, project activities have by and
large followed the original planning.
The health information system with
its improvement and integration has
already demonstrated effectiveness
and is in line with Malawi’s policy
development. It is anticipated that the
expected outcomes will be achieved
when the project comes to an end.
20
Estimated reduction in
default rate in relation to
baseline value
%
Southern Africa
Strengthening the Management of HIV/
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Hypertension
among Mobile Populations Project
3
Case Study