Latest News

This International Women’s Day, we turn the spotlight on the unsung community influencers who have made it their life’s mission to reach their peers and bring down HIV prevalence, especially amongst young women.

Dr Ziyanda Makaba, Clinical Specialist for HIV and Paediatrics at BroadReach Health Development says that due to a complex set of factors, women and girls accounted for more than 60% of all new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa in 2022.]

Six out of seven new infections among 15-19-year-olds in the region are among girls, but the tide is turning as more young girls are supported through peer networks like the USAID-led DREAMS programme. DREAMS stands for Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe (DREAMS) and is supporting high-risk young women and girls around the country.

Changing the HIV prevention game one community influencer at a time

“We’ve moved away from a one-size-fits-all approach to HIV prevention and care, taking a very human, tailored, and caring approach to bringing down further HIV transmissions in society by 2030. Community ambassadors are making all the difference. We have incredible people in our communities who enable their peers, especially teenage girls, to protect themselves and their loved ones from HIV,” says Goodman Ntshangase, BroadReach Health Development’s Acting District Director of Gert Sibande in Mpumalanga, South Africa. This is one of the districts where BroadReach delivers public healthcare in partnership with USAID and the Department of Health.

“We call these community ambassadors ‘Influencers for Good’. They encourage their friends and neighbours to take preventative measures for HIV, including pre-exposure PrEP, post-exposure PEP, and condoms. They also encourage their peers to get tested for HIV and start taking antiretrovirals (ARVs) if they do test positive. This is very helpful for preventing mother-to-child transmission, because if mothers take ARVs, you can protect their babies from becoming HIV positive,” says Ntshangase.

The power of fighting stigma

Dr Makaba explains that the local ‘Influencers for Good’ do their work within the Differentiated Models of Care framework. “This means you look at the community to identify who is most vulnerable to HIV and reach out to them in ways that empower them in their unique contexts. There is no judgment, patronisation, or shame. These nano influencers make it possible for more adolescent girls to take steps to live happy, healthy lives unhampered by HIV.”

These influencers take client centered approaches to helping people depending on their HIV status. “For someone living with HIV, the goal is to get them to take their ARVs every day so that they can become ‘virally suppressed’, meaning their viral count is so low that it becomes virtually undetectable and untransmittable. Suppose someone is HIV negative but in a relationship with someone who is HIV positive or injecting drugs. In that case, they might be encouraged to take preventative PrEP – a medication that if taken 7 days before HIV exposure, can prevent the HIV-negative person from getting HIV,” says Dr Makaba.

Proof in the pudding: HIV numbers are improving in Mpumalanga

The data shows that influencer interventions, coupled with other community health interventions at clinics, have resulted in huge improvements in HIV rates. In the Nkangala and the Gert Sibande districts in Mpumalanga, where BroadReach and their community brigades have been working for five years, the numbers speak for themselves.

In 2018, 1 520 people were initiated on PrEP and that number has reached 30 094 in the last year. “This tells you our outreaches are working and we’re convincing a lot more people to get onto life-saving preventative medications,” says Dr Makaba.

Mother-to-child (perinatal) transmissions have also halved, thanks to more mothers taking ARVs today than five years ago. “In Year One, 251 HIV+ infants needed ARVs and now we have half that at 124 infants. That means the ARVs that more moms are taking while pregnant are effectively protecting babies.”

Meet Mpumalanga’s Influencers for Good

Lorraine “Lolo” Simelane, from the Mkhondo sub-district in the Gert Sibande area, works as HIV/AIDS Lay Counsellor at Kempville Clinic. “I enjoy connecting to others and helping them through difficult times. We teach the youth to make healthy decisions and get treatment and care if needed through confidential HIV counselling and testing services. I have managed to get 2 000 young people enrolled on PrEP before they started their tertiary education.”

Lorraine “Lolo” Simelane loves getting young people into HIV care

Sabelo Teddy Mosimaka, also affectionately referred to as ‘Coach Mpilo’, works with young people at Ezamokuhle Clinic in the Gert Sibande District. “What inspired me to be a coach is that I have the desire to share my journey with people who are living with HIV and to save lives. I took my inspiration from my mother who was living with HIV for the longest time, and she used to help people to make sure that they get back to care, to be healthy and live their lives as normal as possible.”

“The challenges that young people are dealing with in the community are lack of information, unemployment, lack of support from many community structures and alcohol abuse due to peer-pressure. Young people are open to talking about these issues. They also faced the challenge of service providers in the facilities they visited treating them badly. The best way for young people to help others is to be given a platform to express themselves, a safe corner of information and to be assisted without being judged. I help young people access assistance without being stigmatised.”

Coach Mpilo lives to guide the youth to live happy, happy, HIV-free lives

The road ahead

“Reaching the goal of ending new HIV infections by 2030 is possible. To do this, we need a multi-pronged approach to identifying and protecting our most vulnerable from contracting HIV and ensure those who are HIV+ have access to the necessary treatments to enable them to live long, healthy lives. Community ambassadors are central to this goal,” concludes Dr Makaba.

Vantage and Oncology Consultants showcase how technology can sustainably enhance health equity through their partnership.

Vantage’s AI-enabled solution, SocialHealth360, automates social care coordination for cancer patients within the Medicare Principal Illness Navigation program. This initiative improves patient experience, outcomes, and financial sustainability while simultaneously reducing the administrative burden on the workforce.

Download Joint Statement here

Kenya’s over-burdened health system is getting a major boost through a new international health partnership bridging proven Africa-led AI technology and deep local contextual knowledge.

Leaders in healthcare gathered in Nairobi on 22 February 2024 to join forces to address critical health outcomes and improve programme performance. Titled “Technology-enabled Health Systems Strengthening”, the round table brought together high-level government, donor and private sector health stakeholders in Kenya. Attendees included the Kenya Ministry of Health, Digital Directorate, Kenya Council of Governors, Kenya Healthcare Federation, Kenya Red Cross, AMREF, Palladium, PS Kenya and LVCT Health.

Bernard Langat, Division Head, Directorate of Health Informatics, Ministry of Health summarises: “The role of government is to provide an enabling environment where other partners can provide health system strengthening solutions such as digital health and AI. The government is always willing to listen, and emphasis is placed on, when one has a good idea, start and perfection will come along the way.”

The sector continues to grapple with various challenges, including inadequate funding, limited resources, human resource shortages, rising medical costs alongside low insurance enrolment, and regulatory challenges for novel and re-emerging products. While HIV prevalence, new HIV infections and AIDS related mortality has decreased, the challenge of new infections among key populations and adolescent girls and young women remain. Kenya is among 30 high TB and TB/HIV high burden countries that contribute over 85% of the global TB burden. While TB case-finding improved in FY21/22, a significant proportion (32%) of people with TB are still missed.

Vantage Health Technologies – part of the international social impact BroadReach Group – partnered with Africa Health Business (AHB), an Africa-based healthcare consultancy, to host leaders in the interactive partnership session.

Together they are launching a comprehensive training and capacity-building programme to provide local healthcare providers with the latest medical knowledge and technological skills.

They key objectives of this important session focused on:

• Advancing technology solutions with an emphasis on the utilization of AI-driven, data-centric, and technology-enabled solutions to address healthcare challenges.
• Driving towards achieving UHC by 2030, not only on a global scale but also with a targeted focus on Kenya, ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare.
• Building transformative partnerships that are scalable beyond Kenya to other countries facing similar healthcare challenges.

Dr Gakombe Kanyenje Karangaita, Chairperson of the Kenya Healthcare Federation says: “It is impossible to achieve the UHC dream unless all health system building blocks work together cohesively. AI will be critical to improving the connectedness of payers and providers that will have an overall positive impact on the health system.”

Meboh Abuor, Senior Program Advisor for Council of Governors Kenya (CoG) adds: “We need to know how to sustainably exploit digital space for the benefit of the patient and the healthcare provider. There is an urgent need for AI driven capacity building for the Community Health Promoters (CHPs) with a focus on access, awareness, and affordability.”

The Kenya Red Cross represented by Mohamed Mohamud, Public Health Specialist, added: “Technology should be tailored to help and impact fragile health systems and ensure the population benefits. There should be an emphasis on seeing impact and sustainability of digital health solutions in the communities of the people who really need it.”

Dr Amit Thakker, executive chairman of AHB, says: “We must embrace an ecosystem approach to facilitate the integration and sustainable adoption of digital health and AI within our existing healthcare infrastructure in Kenya. It’s imperative that African-led solutions, driven by the expertise in Africa, pave the way for a healthier Africa.”

“AHB and Vantage Health Technologies have established a transformative partnership to address cross-cutting challenges in the Kenya health system. This partnership looks forward to collaborating with the eco system and showing that AI powered Healthcare technologies can contribute to the building blocks of UHC in Kenya and accelerate its achievement. We strongly believe in forging meaningful public and private partnerships to enable access to good health so all Kenyans can flourish. ” says Paul Bhuhi, Managing Director of Vantage Health Technologies.

One of the first steps in the partnership is practical community engagement initiatives to promote health education, technology integration, capacity building, and community involvement for a robust, adaptive, accessible and patient-centric health system in Kenya.

Vantage provides AI-powered data management, patient care and real-time communication for healthcare professionals, especially within the treatment and care of HIV, TB, malaria and other related diseases. AHB in turn supplies market insights and fosters stakeholder engagements across the public and private sectors.