Six simple interventions are at the heart of how clinics can be part of turning the tide on TB infection. By following a checklist of good practice, clinics can be safer for patients and staff. However most clinics are failing to implement enough of these measures, putting people at risk of getting TB whilst waiting at the clinic.
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Treat us better if you want us to keep coming back!
People who miss appointments or stop taking their treatment often report being treated badly by healthcare workers when they return to health facilities. This fear of being reprimanded discourages people from going back to the clinic to seek support and receive their treatment.

Getting people out of the clinic can support HIV treatment adherence
The growing crisis in many of South Africa’s clinics has reached a point where patient care is being compromised and with it deepening worry that people living with HIV are being pushed out of treatment. Allowing PLHIV to collect their medication refills outside of the clinic can improve this experience and reduce the risk of people disengaging from care.

Longer HIV treatment supplies can support better long term adherence
One of the biggest challenges now facing South Africa’s HIV response is how to support many more PLHIV to engage or re-engage and then stay on treatment. One way to make it easier for PLHIV to adhere to treatment is to provide a longer supply of medicines.

Our data shows where Gauteng clinics are failing, government must help fix it
Too many clinics are in crisis and it is driving the continuing HIV epidemic. People are dying because of it, argue members of the Ritshidze Project as they launch a report into the state of public sector facilities in Gauteng.

Ritshidze launches new report at community meeting looking into state of health in Gauteng
To mark World AIDS Day 2020, the Ritshidze project is launching a detailed report into the state of the public healthcare system in Gauteng. The report — based on the results of data collected through Ritshidze’s community-led monitoring — will be presented to the Gauteng Department of Health and other duty bearers at a community meeting in Soweto today.

Ritshidze project publicly releases community-led monitoring tools & guidelines
The Ritshidze project today released a new website with resource toolkits on how it uses community-led monitoring to improve the quality of HIV and TB service delivery. Ritshidze — one of the most extensive community-led clinic monitoring systems — was developed by networks of People Living with HIV in South Africa to hold government and aid agencies to account to fix our broken public healthcare system.

Gathering evidence at the clinic: a photo story
The first step in the Ritshidze model is to gather evidence at the clinic and in the community. Find out more about where, when and how we collect data and who is involved in the data collection efforts.

Learning the Ritshidze model
During our Ritshidze training we gave communities the tools and techniques to monitor the quality of HIV, TB and other health services provided at clinics and quickly escalate problems to decision makers at clinic and district levels in order to advocate for change.

Community-generated solutions at Daveyton East Clinic
In September 2020 the Ritshidze Project held a community dialogue event in Daveyton to hear from patients themselves. This came as Ritshidze community monitors were increasingly hearing from patients about their challenges with medicine stockouts, being repeatedly given ‘short-scripts’, and not being communicated with about their medicines and treatments.

Community-led monitoring is a breakthrough in our HIV response
Thanks to community-led monitoring in South Africa, we now have the data to back up the stories we have all heard about – early morning queues that last all day long when clinics fail to open on time and then also close early, writes Anele Yawa and Lotti Rutter.

The People’s COP20
The People’s COP20 was released today by people living with HIV and activists at a community meeting where public healthcare users shared their experiences of accessing HIV and other health services in public clinics with U.S Ambassador Deborah Birx.