Cell-Life was invited by the provincial Department of Health to give a presentation on the work we have carried out in the North West. The Cell-Life systems deployed in this province include both the ARV dispensing software (iDART) and the cellphone-based monitoring tool (Aftercare), and currently over 6500 patients are being monitored through these two applications in the North West. 

As part of the funding of the Elton John Aids Foundation, two ARV pharmacies (the Taung Treatment Centre and the Tshepong Wellness Centre in Klerksdorp) in the North West Province have been equipped with iDART to assist with managing patient records and pharmacy dispensing. Two additional health care facilities are scheduled to receive iDART in the next two months. Sarah Brown gave a comprehensive presentation on the experiences gained while implementing iDART at these two large ARV pharmacies. And Lulama Dikweni, a representative from the Medical Research Council (MRC), also presented findings of a collaborative project between Cell-Life, MRC and Geospace International. In this project, home-based carers use Aftercare preloaded onto their SIM cards to monitor patient visits. The messages created for each of these visits are then send to Cell-Life servers and are integrated into the electronic patient record accessible at one of two pilot clinic sites.

Cell-Life was honoured to receive such an invitation, and used this opportunity to meet with relevant representatives within the North West Department of Health. Based on the quantifiable successes observed at these initial sites, there is a great interest in taking Cell-Life systems to other health care facilities within the province.