Message from Dr. Yogan Pillay

Colleagues,

We have rescheduled the launch of the National HIV Testing & Treatment Campaign to 25 April in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng.   The provincial launches (for the other 8 provinces) will be on 30 April.

On 13 April, in his budget speeches to both the National Assembly and the National Council on Provinces, Minister Motsoaledi spoke about the importance of the HCT Campaign and the progress we are making on the implementation of the new HIV treatment guidelines. I encourage you to read the Minister’€™s speeches, which can be found at http://www.doh.gov.za/docs/sp/sp0413-f.html.

Continued thanks to all of you for working so hard to make this incredible initiative a success!

Kind regards,

Dr. Yogan Pillay, Acting Director-General

  Work Area Updates

Drug Procurement:

·                 Supplies of Abacavir solution continue to be limited, and paediatric patients currently on Abacavir should be prioritized when allocating available stocks. It is critical that these patients do not experience treatment interruptions.   Our suppliers informed us that additional supplies will be available within a week.

·                 Tenofovir/Emtracitabine should only be used for PMTCT, as the drug is currently too expensive to be used for standard treatment.

·                 The first donation of ARVs from the United States Government is due to arrive before the end of April. This delivery will consist of Tenofovir tablets and Lamivudine solution, and will be distributed to provinces according to need.

·                 Provinces should make sure that they have INH 300mg for adults and INH 100mg for children for the necessary TB prophylaxis, as stipulated in the Guidelines for Tuberculosis Preventative Therapy Among HIV Infected Individuals.

Recruitment of Retired Health Professionals:

• The response to the Minister’€™s call to retired healthcare workers has been fairly strong, with more than 1900 indicating a willingness to get involved by contacting the AIDS Helpline or by registering in person at health facilities.
• The Department of Health and SANAC have compiled a comprehensive volunteer database and have shared this information with provinces and districts.
• Training of HCT volunteers will be conducted in phases, so it is critical that facility and district managers ensure that all in-person registrations are sent to the NDoH.
•  To participate in volunteer trainings, volunteer registration forms must be faxed to NDoH (Fax: 012 312 3136, Attn: Thato) immediately on receipt.
• As the first phase of training will focus on the launch districts, it is critical that any registration forms for volunteers in these districts be faxed as soon as possible.

·                 If you have any questions about volunteer training or to confirm that your faxes have been received and entered into the database, please contact the Nerve Centre Hotline by phone or email.

·                 There are three nerve centre phone lines:

Ø (012) 312-5674

Ø (012) 312-5416

Ø (012) 312-5030

·                 And, specific emails for each province:

Ø     Western Cape: sanacwesterncape@gmail.com

Ø     Northern Cape: sanacnortherncape@gmail.com

Ø     Eastern Cape: sanaceasterncape@gmail.com

Ø     KZN:sanackzn@gmail.com

Ø     Free State: sanacfreestate@gmail.com

Ø     Mpumalanga: sanacmpumalanga@gmail.com

Ø     Gauteng: sanacgauteng@gmail.com

Ø     Limpopo: sanaclimpopo@gmail.com

Ø     North West: sanacnorthwest@gmail.com

HR Update on Rapid Release & Training of Nurses in NIMART:

• 357 nurses have trained in NIMART by the Department of Health

More than 100 data capturers were trained last week