Data, technology to answer HIV questions

FINDING and focusing on high-impact HIV areas using data and technology were key to meeting the national goals set out in the South African National Strategic Plan (NSP) on HIV, TB and STIs for 2017 to 2022.

In a presentation at the first day of the 8th South African Aids Conference in Durban, yesterday, delegates heard about the South African National Aids Council’s (Sanac) Focus for Impact interactive web-based application.

Sanac’s Petro Rousseau described the application as “a tool to answer key questions about HIV, such as where high-burden areas are, why they are high burden and what is going to be done to lessen the burden”.

The NSP identified 27 high-burden HIV and 19 high-incident TB districts that needed focus to make maximum impact. According to Sanac, “detailed, localised statistical evidence – for example, on disease patterns, related social and economic factors, and TB and HIV service uptake – are critical tools to help us identify hot spots”.

Using KZN’s Ilembe district as an example, Rousseau said that the area had a positivity rate of 14.5%. Routine data from the health department and others would allow researchers to “drill down” into KwaDukuza local municipality, where what was happening at a ward level could be studied. This could be taken down as far as facility level. “But we must also understand what is happening in the community,” she said.Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa – who chairs Sanac – launched the NSP on May 31.

Last year, 7.1 million South Africans were estimated to be HIV-positive. An estimated 270 000 new infections occurred in the same year, down from 360 000 in 2012. – ANA