State of Health Eastern Cape 2024 — Press Pack

On 17 September 2024, Ritshidze will launch a detailed report into the state of the public healthcare system in the Eastern Cape. While some improvement has been made, a litany of challenges still persists including: people being denied services without a transfer letter or ID, or because they are queer, trans, use drugs or do sex work, only 59% of people getting a 3 month supply of ARVs, long waiting times, a culture of unfriendliness, trans women being told to use service delivery points for men, and limited access to lubricant at facilities for HIV prevention. The full press release is here.

The report will be presented to the Eastern Cape health department, the Buffalo City health department, the OR Tambo health department & other duty bearers at two community meetings in Braelyn and Khwezi. The Buffalo City meeting will be live streamed here: vimeofacebook and YouTube, and the OR Tambo meeting will be live streamed here: vimeofacebook and YouTube.

This is the fourth edition of the annual Eastern Cape State of Health report. Data in this report were collected between July and August 2024 at 54 facilities in the province (18 in Buffalo City and 21 in OR Tambo). Surveys were carried out with 2,935 public healthcare users at the facility and 2,833 members of key populations in the community.

#EasternCapeHealth #BuffaloCityHealth #ORTamboHealth

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About RITSHIDZE

“Ritshidze” — meaning “Saving Our Lives” in TshiVenda — has been developed by people living with HIV and activists to hold the South African government and aid agencies accountable to improve overall HIV and TB service delivery.

Partner organisations include the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the National Association of People Living with HIV (NAPWA), Positive Action Campaign, Positive Women’s Network (PWN) and the South African Network of Religious Leaders Living with and affected by HIV/AIDS (SANERELA+)—in alliance with Health Global Access Project (Health GAP), the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), and Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law.

CLICK HERE to read more and see where we work.