Project Name：Strengthening the Management of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Hypertension among Mobile Populations in Southern Africa Project

Project status：Completed projects

Cooperating Country：Africa, Malawi, South Africa

Project Description：

Mobile populations with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and hypertension in the Southern Africa region have high treatment default rates, which may lead to the emergence of drug resistance. Partnering with Luke International and pilot hospitals identified by the Ministry of Health of Southern Africa, this project will aim to improve hospitals’ capacity to follow-up on mobile populations with HIV/AIDS, TB and hypertension. The project is designed to reduce default rates and increase patient survival rates by initiating activities to strengthen health management information systems (HMIS) in accordance with the WHO’s health system strengthening guidelines.
Overall, this project will:
1.Component 1: building, strengthening and coordinating HMIS in three hospitals in three districts.
2.Component 2: providing information on attending clinics to mobile populations.
3.Component 3: building the capacity to track and provide care to mobile populations within a health network.
4.Component 4: advocating for cross-border patients (CBP) within Southern Africa.

Project No：TH-120-2014-010

Region：Africa

Implementation Start Date：2014-01-01

Implementation End Date：2016-12-31

Source of Funding：Ministry of Foreign Affairs/TaiwanICDF/Other sources of funding collated by Luke International/Pingtung Christian Hospital

Project Objectives：

The objectives of this project are:
1.Component 1:Strengthening and integrating the HMIS in three districts of two countries within the Southern African region:
A.Partnering with the Ministry of Health in Malawi and other partners, build, strengthen and integrate the HMIS and introduce the mobile PACS system to assist in the case management of TB patients in two districts (two hospitals) in Malawi.
B.Ensure that HMIS strengthening covers all levels of the health system, from the community level to the central government level, with at least 12 different facilities included in the patient referral and tracking network.
C.Register at least 70 percent of HIV/AIDS, TB and hypertension patients from mobile populations in the HMIS.

2.Component 2:Providing services and information to mobile populations:
A.Complete the mapping of migrant/mobile population friendly hospitals. The list should include at least 30 facilities that meet the criteria.
B.Develop and disseminate 60,000 copies of health education pamphlets about mobile population healthcare for the three project-related diseases (HIV/AIDS, TB and hypertension) and information about migrant-friendly hospitals throughout the three project-supported hospitals.

3.Component 3:Building capacity for tracking mobile populations and creating a care network:
A.Invite at least six health officials at the decision-making level from the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region to visit Taiwan.
B.Train health information coaches: (A)Hold two training workshops on software development, maintenance and troubleshooting in Taiwan and train at least eight coaches；(B)Hold two training workshops on hardware development, maintenance and troubleshooting in Taiwan and train at least eight coaches.
C.Hold 10 user training workshops locally, led by the health information coaches, to train at least 200 system users.

4.Component 4:Advocating health promotion issues among cross-border patients and mobile populations:
A.Using data from the health information systems, conduct cross-sectional epidemiological research studies about cross-border patients (CBP), including CBP demographics, and environmental and cultural characteristics.
B.Form a designated unit to partner with Malawi and South Africa at a decision-making level and to hold working meetings at such a level. Compile suggestions for governments in the Southern African region so as to facilitate the development of policies and standard treatment guidelines.
C.Hold two CBP forums to build consensus on how to manage CBPs, and producing a draft proposal. The draft proposal should address issues on how to establish a network of collaborative facilities that are migrant-friendly and allow patient referrals and cross-border tracking.

Implementation Arrangement：Members of the Project will provide technical assistance and assistance for capacity building.

Project Performance：Reduce default rate of mobile populations with HIV/AIDS, TB and non-communicable disease (hypertension) in the Southern African region (including three districts in South Africa and Malawi).