6: How should CHWs be employed?
Issues around the employment of CHWs are some of the most highly contested in discussions of CHWs in South Africa. For years, CHWs have been calling for employment by the…
5: How many CHWs do we need?
The ideal number of CHWs depends on a number of factors, including the population served (decisions to be taken in this regard will include whether rural and/or urban households are…
4: What should CHWs do?
There has been a long-standing debate about how many and what kind of functions a CHW can perform.[1] It is important to consider the effectiveness of CHWs in performing certain…
3: History of CHWs in South Africa
Community health workers have been present in South Africa since the first CHW programmes were initiated in the 1920s. The 1997 White Paper on the Transformation of the Health Sector…
2: Why do we need CHWs?
The central goal of the new NSP is prevention. In focusing on prevention, it supports the new ‘test- [caption id="attachment_5156" align="alignright" width="300"] Doris Ntuli (center) stands alongside two of her…
The treatment pipeline: moving beyond “Making the most of what we’ve got”
Looking to the future of TB treatment.
South Africa is coughing up too much money for DR-TB treatment
Over a year ago, on October 30, 2014, three young South Africans whose lives were profoundly affected by their battle with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) led a group of supporters to the offices of the country’s regulator, the Medicines Control Council (MCC), to make an urgent plea.
Resisting stock-outs
ARV stock-outs leads to treatment interruptions in those living with HIV/AIDS which could have serious knock-on effects and may lead to death.
GeneXpert: The first five years
In December 2010 the World Health Organisation recommended that countries start using a breakthrough new TB test called Xpert MTB/RIF (commonly referred to as GeneXpert). South Africa rapidly embraced this…
Will BRICS countries step up to the challenge of finding new TB medicines?
Tuberculosis is a classic poor person’s disease – a limited problem in the United States and Western Europe, but killing hundreds of thousands of people every year in countries like…
Foolish to try and fix TB without fixing health systems
This issue of the NSP Review has been published to coincide with the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Cape Town. TAC and SECTION27 welcome all foreign delegates…
Motsoaledi’s curse: When politics trumps health, people pay the price
NSP Review COMMENT It is a curable disease. It is a treatable disease. Yet, it has managed to devastate health systems and communities for centuries. When HIV arrived, this wily…