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More effort is needed to formalise community health work.
South Africa’s HIV response is at a critical turning point.
The Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF) leadership gathered in Sandton to discuss impactful programmes and their commitment to addressing HIV/Aids and related public health challenges.
Working in collaboration with the National Department of Health and provincial governments in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga, AHF supports the delivery of HIV, STI and TB services.
This collaboration serves to increase awareness in communities about the fight against HIV/Aids and TB. It said that people are not always educated about these diseases or viruses, to the point where they die without even knowing what they were infected with.
“We advocate for adequate resource allocation so that we can sustain the gains in HIV response, close the potential gaps, and ensure that we continue to reach the communities that need the resources the most,” said the foundation’s Ngaatendwe Murombedzi.
AHF is the world’s largest non-profit HIV/Aids healthcare provider, delivering medical care and advocacy across 47 countries, 14 of which are in Africa.
Since its founding in 1987, AHF has combined clinical services with bold policy advocacy to reach communities that are often underserved or forgotten.
“I think the young people are quite important in this space because it is required that young people bring energy, and they also bring technical skills that are so much important in the fight against HIV and TB,” said Gauteng provincial legislature member, Dr Bandile Masuku.
Masuku continued by saying more work needs to be put into formalising community health work.
“Part of prevention, part of treatment is more done in the community level, not in hospitals, not in clinics, but it should be done on a street level as well as community level,” said Masuku.
With operations spanning Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, AHF continues to fight for equitable access to life-saving healthcare and challenge systems that fail the most vulnerable.
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