The last week of January began our volunteer work in Cape Town. Rob is volunteering at Paediatric AIDS Treatment for Africa (PATA). It focuses on a network of clinics that have accepted a proven approach to anti-retro viral treatment (ART) that was developed and evaluated at Groote Schuur Hospital at the University of Cape Town a decade ago. It involves a team comprised of a physician, pharmacist, nurse, and social worker. Clinics wanted to learn this effective treatment process so PATA was set up to create a network of clinics that have the capacity to set up a similar team to begin ART. There are now over 170 clinics in sub-saharan Africa involved in the network. PATA provides large forums in east, west, and southern Africa on a three year rotation where 50 or so clinics come for training in critical issues such as prevention of mother to child transmission, disclosure to children, care for adolescents, infant feeding, and advances in ART.
The country of South Africa has the highest incidence rate of HIV in the world. With 17% of the population being HIV+ and only about 1/3rd having access to ARTs, they are devoting a lot of both public and private funds to preventing further infection as well as expanding treatment. The disease is disproportionate in the young with 33% of all of the cases in persons under 15. Thirty percent of pregnant women are HIV+ so interrupting the transmission to their newborns is critical.
I am helping the small staff (3 full time staff and 1 part time director) in identifying potential funding sources, entering data for evaluation, researching new best practices (i.e. sexuality training for adolescent HIV+ females) and helping with the monthly newsletter, website (teamPATA.org) and the forum proceedings. I'm working five days a week from 8:30 to 4 pm and so it is really like a job. I'm the only male in the organization so the work setting is not an unfamiliar one for me.
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