On the 7-11 October 2024, the National Department of Health conducted the National Integrated Meeting on HIV/TB Programme. The meeting took place at Premier Hotel OR Tambo, Gauteng. The meeting was a crucial and interactive event that brought together all stakeholders across the country to discuss the latest advancements and strategies in the fight against HIV, AIDS, and all other health related challenges. The objectives of the conference were to share data and learning across all provinces, review the national and provincial programmatic performance and scale up the implementation of Operation Phuthuma. Attendees engaged in high-level discussions about HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support, all based on data-driven insights. Data was utilised in four pillars of the HIV Programme: Global Alliance, Paeds and Prevention, and treatment. The Nerve Centre Approach (NCA) was straddled across these four pillars.
Throughout the meeting, various experts robustly engaged and reviewed the effectiveness of current programmes through detailed evaluations, shared best practices, and explored innovative approaches to enhance South Africa’s HIV response. The key focus was on aligning provincial action plans for the remaining fiscal year with national priorities to ensure that gaps were addressed and performance optimised. This aided the provinces to develop specific strategies and interventions to be implemented to achieve more better results. These efforts helped ensure that HIV programmes remained evidence-based, effective, and responsive to the country’s needs. Focused sessions were conducted which included Tools Lab, with the aim of educating the attendees on available NCA Tools, furthermore there were breakaway session where provinces developed their action plan. A total of thirty-eight posters were presented to showcase the successes from different provinces and facilities.
In an interview with the Quality Improvement Regional Director: Ms De Kock stated that the meeting was a great initiative as there were a lot of different pieces of national responsibilities, which is usually conducted in isolation, like disseminating targets, or the DPR review or the 100 facilities review, and I think because we have been working with the department and trying to get integration possible. This meeting is the first of its kind, where all the activities that could have been done in isolation are now integrated, so the purpose was to or to showcase the attempt of integration and that it is also taking place.
By the end of the week, actionable, data-informed strategies were developed to strengthen the national response to HIV and STIs, ensuring progress towards meeting the country's goals and continuing to provide vital support and care to all those affected.
