SA team develops HIV monitoring tool
A software application developed by the University of Cape Town to monitor patients on
treatment for HIV and TB treatment is being implemented by countries such as
Mozambique, Malawi, Vietnam and Pakistan.
The electronic register, developed by UCT's Centre for Infectious Disease, Epidemiology
and Research (CIDER), is already in use in 3 000 clinics in South Africa.
Known as TIER.net, the software was developed because paper registers used to keep
track of HIV patients became too unwieldy.
Although another application – eKapa2 – had already been developed to do this, it could
not be used by all clinics as it relies on internet access to work. TIER.Net, on the other
hand, operates offline, requiring only a computer.
Collaboration
The application is the result of a collaborative effort between CIDER, the Canadian
International Development Agency, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention,
and the World Health
Organisation. The Western Cape and national government teams
also participated in the development of the project.
Representatives from Mozambique, Malawi, Vietnam and Pakistan were at UCT recently
for TIER.Net training.
CIDER has been responsible for overseeing the implementation of TIER.Net and eKapa 2
in the Western Cape, as well as training "master implementers" for the national
Department of Health.
Originally the idea was that TIER.Net would only be used in the Western Cape, but it
soon drew the attention of the Department of Health, who requested that it be made
available to all clinics in South Africa.
There are more than 4 000 public sector clinics in South Africa, with TIER.Net
being used in more than 3 000 facilities. It cannot be implemented in all clinics as
some do not have electricity.
Once clinics have been equipped with bandwidth, they will cross over to eKapa 2.
"All three systems – paper register, TIER.Net
and eKapa – are interoperable," said
CIDER's Meg Osler, who oversaw TIER.Net's software development. All three systems
can be used to produce the same reports that feed into a single provincial and national
database for ARV services.
Information gathered through TIER.Net, eKapa 2 or paper register is used to inform
policy and resource allocation.
This is an edited version of a story first published by UCT. See www.uct.ac.za