State of Health Free State 2023 — Press Pack

On 30 August 2023, Ritshidze will launch a detailed report into the state of the public healthcare system in the Free State. Ritshidze data from two districts in the report will be presented to the department of health and other duty bearers at two district-level community meetings during the week. The Thabo Mofutsanyana meeting will be live streamed here: vimeofacebook and YouTube, and the Lejweleputswa meeting will be lived streamed here: vimeofacebook and YouTube

The report is based on the results of data collected through Ritshidze’s community-led monitoring of 21 facilities in the province. There is additional data related to the availability of HIV prevention tools from a snap survey of 84 additional facilities, as well as data collected through interviews with 1,010 key populations in the community.

This is the third edition of the Free State State of Health report; the first was published in September 2021, and the second in September 2022. Data in this report were collected between April and June 2023. While there have been some improvements in the third edition of the report, such as increased availability of condoms and lubricants and more key populations being actively offered PrEP, too many challenges persist, including excessively long waiting times and dire progress towards giving people a 3 month supply of ARVs.

Ritshidze is a programme of the PLHIV Sector made up of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), National Association of People Living with HIV (NAPWA), Positive Action Campaign, Positive Women’s Network, the South African Network of Religious Leaders Living with HIV (SANERELA+).

You can follow @RitshidzeSA on twitterfacebook and instagram for regular updates.

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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.