Website: ISHEID
Date: June 2004
Location: Toulon, France
Attendees: S Anand (presented)
Publication Type: Conference  

The last ten years of democracy in South Africa have been characterised by developments to build a new nation. Basic amenities such as water, sanitation and electricity have been delivered to the majority of the population, and the housing backlog is being addressed. Developments are now being challenged through the impact of HIV/AIDS. Sub-Saharan Africa has an estimated 28.1 million HIV infections. Within this region, South Africa is faced with one of the most severe HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world, with estimates of infections ranging between 4 and 6 million.

The SouthAfrican Government's anti-retroviral (ARV) operational plan came into effect in November 2003, with early 2005 estimated for the ARV roll-out. The provision and distribution of medication is however a logistical problem, requiring a structure for correct delivery of treatment. South African research has shown that support of the HIV+ individual through home based care systems ensures a higher level of adherence. It has also been shown that accurate data about the individual, the medical history, the socio-economic status of the family and the individual's diet have a major impact on the success of adherence to ARV treatment. The collection of such data has until now been a major challenge. The non-governmental organisation (NGO) Cell-Life has developed a system that offers a 'bottom-up approach', whereby the home-based carer captures information via a user-friendly mobile phone (cellphone) application. South Africa has one of the highest uptakes and demographic distributions of cellular technology in the world. With this infrastructure and technology at hand, Cell-Life implemented an innovative information-gathering and provision system, which uses relatively simple and accessible, available technology to manage the treatment of HIV/AIDS in South Africa and the continent. Cellphone enabled Wireless Internet Gateway (WIG) applications which use Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks, easy-to-use database applications on the Internet, an HIV/AIDS database, and a Geographical Information System (GIS) have resulted in an overall HIV/AIDS Information Management System.

The system has been in use since August 2002 at pilot sites, and is presently being introduced in several trial ARV programmes. An independent study on the effectiveness of the system has shown that it improves the data recovery and treatment management over conventional systems; and with further enhancements it will form a solid foundation for the nationwide ARV rollout.