“This conference is significant because it comes a decade after the first SA AIDS conference. There have been many developments since then, both good and bad, and apart from highlighting the amazing achievements of the researchers and clinicians, will also give us an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made since then,” says Prof. Koleka Mlisana, the chairperson of the conference.

The conference, which is focused on the theme of “Building on Successes, Integrating Systems”, will include a special satellite session called “Highway to Health: Rolling out HIV services to a mobile population”, which will look at scaling-up health services for truck drivers and sex worker over the next three years, and the opportunities and challenges that exist in doing so. Moderated by North Star Alliance’s Senior Project Manager, Jacqui Hadingham, the session includes presentations by Luke Disney, North Star Alliance’s Executive Director, Prof. Francois Venter and Maria Sibanyoni, from the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, and Thato Chidarikire, South Africa’s acting Director of the National Department of Health.

Alongside our satellite session, presentations and workshops will cover a broad range of HIV-associated themes throughout the conference including changing global targets, TB and HIV, clinical epidemiology, HIV risk and gender issues, responding to the needs of children, and on how to translate scientific advancement in to community practice.

“There are many successes out there; people all over the country are doing some incredible work. But the challenge for us is to know about these successes and to ensure people in similar situations and circumstances are receiving care and treatment based on best practices. As a community we are obligated to ensure this because this is the only way we will bring meaningful and sustained change in managing HIV and AIDS in South Africa,” says Prof. Mlisana.

If you aren’t at the conference this week, don’t worry – we’ll be tweeting live with photos, quotes, and information from the conference.

Follow @NorthStarAfrica

Session Overview

Highway to Health: Rolling out HIV services to a mobile population

Wednesday 19th June, 18h00-20h00

Prof. Francois Venter (WRHI)

On the Move South Africa: Health and HIV in mobile populations – Politics, Failure in HIV Prevention and New Approaches

Luke Disney (North Star Alliance)

Moving Targets: New Models along North South Corridor for Trucker’s Wellness

Maria Sibanyoni (WRHI)

Women at Risk: Addressing Sex Workers as part of a comprehensive approach

Thato Chidarikire (NDoH)

Spotlight on High Transmission Areas

If you’d like to find out more about our work, or this session, please feel free to contact us.

North Star Alliance and ORTEC

In 2009, ORTEC, one of the world’s leading providers of optimisation software solutions, joined our network of partners and began working on a unique program that would allow our staff to access client medical records, across borders, at any one of our “Blue Box” clinics in Africa: we called it COMETS. While accessing medical records is an essential part of providing consistent, high quality health care, mobile workers like truck drivers face tremendous barriers to health due largely to the fact that they are always on the move.

In 2006, we set out to address this problem by building a strategically-placed network of clinics (in converted shipping containers) that would deliver public health programmes for people with increased health risks, like truck drivers and sex workers, and primary health care to communities located along Africa’s highways. We chose this approach because shipping containers could be converted using a standard layout and be rapidly deployed to communities in need. To really have an impact on the health of truck drivers, however, we needed to build more than a physical network of clinics – we needed to build a digital network to support them.

To help us accomplish this, ORTEC joined our team and began developing solutions that would not only to enable us to access medical records and client information across our network, but that would allow us to monitor and evaluate the impact of our clinics at a local, national, and regional level. Since 2009, COMETS has been installed across our network, and is currently being implemented by other healthcare providers who recognise the importance of creating access to health care without borders.

GBC Health “Technology for Health Award” Photos

About ORTEC

ORTEC Consulting Group specialises in operations research and optimisation, using mathematical models to support a wide range of business decisions and analytical processes. Optimising revenue and supply chains, and providing advanced analytics across a wide range of data. ORTEC Consulting Group is a subsidiary of ORTEC, the world’s leading provider of optimisation software solutions and consulting services. ORTEC has over 1,650 customers worldwide, over 650 employees and offices in Europe, North America, Asia and the Pacific Region. For more information, visit ORTEC Consulting Group at http://www.ortec-consulting.com or ORTEC at http://www.ortec.com.

Photos courtesy of Whitney Kidder for GBCHealth

This past week, our long-time partner ORTEC received the prestigious ‘Technology for Health’ Award, from the hands of Her Excellency Madam Ngema-Zuma, the First Lady of South Africa, as part of the Global Business Action on Health Awards for the support they’ve shown North Star in developing our electronic health passport system, “COMETS”. Madam Ngema-Zuma gave a wonderful speech praising North Star’s work to an audience of over 400 business leaders from companies such as Chevron, Coca-Cola, HP, and AngloAmerican plc, as well as important multilateral organizations including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, PEPFAR and the United Nations community.

It was wonderful recognition for one of our strongest and most loyal supporters, ORTEC. And it was an important indication of just how impressive our COMETS system is. Of course, it was also an acknowledgement that the work North Star staff and partners are doing on a day-to-day basis is not going unnoticed. People are very interested in what North Star is doing, and every time we tell our story the number of potential Alliance Members grows.

As I listen to the achievements of other organizations many times our size, I am once again reminded of how North Star continues to “punch above its weight”. The impact we have for an organization of our size is truly remarkable. I see it as a demonstration of the professionalism and dedication of our entire team, our network of partners, and of the growing group of supporters around the world who follow and share our story with others. To each of you, I would like to express my gratitude, and thank you for making North Star the wonderful organization that it is. As we continue to grow, and expand the reach of our “Blue Box” clinics across Africa, I hope that each of you will continue to be involved in what I believe is truly an exciting and impactful initiative.

Thank you again,

Luke Disney
Executive Director
North Star Alliance

Lukala, located in Bas-Congo, the western most province of the DRC, is located on the main road connecting the capital of Kinshasa to the river ports along the mouth of the river Congo. When looking at our network map, it becomes clear that Lukala is a relatively isolated site,  on a corridor on which no other RWCs are located. North Star was first invited to visit the area on a exploratory trip hosted by Heineken and the World Food Programme (WFP) in 2010. Both expressed interest in establishing a wellness centre in the region, and not much later North Star returned to the area to look for a suitable location. In order to withstand the chaotic, bureaucratic procedures to register the organisation and gain the necessary licenses, a partnership was sought with AMOCONGO, a respected local NGO in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention. The clinic became operational in February 2011.

Unfortunately, there were several factors that contributed to the RWC’s early closing. In hindsight, the location chosen for the RWC proved to be a major obstacle. Not only did few truckers and other members of out target group find their way to the clinic, the centre’s operational costs also proved to be far higher than other RWCs. Lukala’s far flung location meant support from the regional offices proved difficult, travelling there was expensive and supplying the centre with medicines troublesome. Furthermore, communication often proved problematic: not only were means of communication between the regional office, Kinshasa and Lukala limited, the language barrier caused delays and frequent misinterpretations. Supervision of the activities at Lukala therefore became extremely difficult, causing confusion both for the management as well as the clinic staff on the ground. Besides that, the cooperation between North Star and the local NGO proved to be relatively short lived. As a result, North Star, in close consultation with Heineken, decided to close the Lukala clinic, transferring the RWC to the Ministry of Health. Instead, North Star and Heineken will be focussing their resources on the RWC in Bukavu, a clinic in East Congo located on the Northern corridor.

We believe North Star has matured as an organisation since 2010. Whereas initially North Star would act on every opportunity, some perhaps more feasible than others, we believe we have now come to a point where we will only fully commit ourselves to a project when we can make sure we will live up to our intended standard. That being said, at Lukala we achieved something not many NGO would have succeeded in: we got a clinic up and running in arguably one of the toughest countries in the world, far removed from any lifelines. This is something to be very proud of, and we will ensure that the lessons learned during the last three years will be utilised when we expand into new markets (in fact, we already did in Mozambique). Many thanks go out to Heineken, who have supported our clinics in the DRC from the beginning. Finally, we would like to say a big thank you to our wonderful staff in the DRC, without whom this entire endeavour would not have been possible.

With the opening reception only hours away, and the Technology for Health Award presentation coming up tomorrow, we wanted to take a moment to share a bit more information about a unique partnership that has made it possible for mobile populations, like long-distance truck drivers, to have access to their health records and essential health services at our network of roadside health clinics across Africa.

Recently, during ORTEC’s CEE Customer Day in Bucharest, Romania, North Star Alliance’s Executive Director, Luke Disney, had an opportunity to address ORTEC staff and customers to explain a bit about North Star’s work, and how our partnership with ORTEC has ensured access to health care for some of Africa’s most hard-to-reach populations.

Please take a moment to watch the video, or find out more about the GBC Health Business Action on Health Awards by reading our press release.

About ORTEC

ORTEC Consulting Group specialises in operations research and optimisation, using mathematical models to support a wide range of business decisions and analytical processes. Optimising revenue and supply chains, and providing advanced analytics across a wide range of data. ORTEC Consulting Group is a subsidiary of ORTEC, the world’s leading provider of optimisation software solutions and consulting services. ORTEC has over 1,650 customers worldwide, over 650 employees and offices in Europe, North America, Asia and the Pacific Region. For more information, visit ORTEC Consulting Group at http://www.ortec-consulting.com or ORTEC at http://www.ortec.com.

About GBC Health

GBCHealth represents over 200 private sector companies leading the business fight for improved global health. Through work that includes developing comprehensive workplace policies; supporting community programs; leveraging core competencies; facilitating leadership and advocacy by business leaders; and brokering public-private partnerships, GBCHealth helps members achieve their global health goals. GBCHealth also manages the private sector delegation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, serving as an entry-point for corporate collaboration and engagement with the Fund and its recipients worldwide. GBCHealth has offices in New York, Johannesburg, Beijing, and Nairobi. For more information on GBCHealth, please visit www.gbchealth.org

Last week, in recognition of Workers’ Day, our team at one of our newest clinics, in Ficksburg South Africa, reached out to their community at a Workers’ Day celebration to provide HIV counselling and testing (HCT) services and build awareness about North Star. We’re happy to share Makalo Nathane’s report on the day’s activities:

For us in Ficksburg, there is no time for holiday. We are hard at work doing outreach at the workers’ day celebration! Here you can see Motshabi Potloane, our Peer Educator, preparing our work station.

No time to rest!

Need I say more?

Not even our security guard wanted to be left out for this occasion.

Time to test the machine before starting work.

Workers as they enter the stadium.

Our Peer Educator conducting HCT on one of the patients – HCT in action.

Clients waiting their turn for a HCT.

Happy patient taken through HCT.

The GBC Health Business Action on Health Awards recognise companies that exemplify a spirit of innovation and help set the agenda for addressing today’s most important global health challenges. The 2013 winning programs represent work from ORTEC, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Hewlett-Packard Company, Levi Strauss & Co., Novartis, Freeport-McMoRan and Copper & Gold. ORTEC Consulting Group CEO Lambert van der Bruggen will accept the award in New York during GBC Health’s 2013 Conference, held May 15-17th.

“We were honored to be a finalist, but to win this award is a dream come true,” stated Lambert van der Bruggen, ORTEC Consulting Group CEO. “North Star Alliance came to us with this human crisis. Fortunately, optimisation techniques have many applications so we were able to create the COMETS health registration and passport system. In the field of humanitarian logistics this means reaching more people, saving more lives and strengthening communities globally.”

As part of our work to establish a network of drop-in health clinics along major transport corridors throughout Africa, ensuring our staff are able to access the medical records of mobile populations, like long distance truck drivers, is paramount. To accomplish this, we’ve worked with ORTEC and ORTEC Consulting Group to develop a customised client health registration and passport system, called COMETS. COMETS is easy to use for staff without advanced computer skills and is resilient to operational challenges like power outages and breaks in connectivity. Since 2009, ORTEC has provided this support on a pro-bono basis.

In addition to COMETS, ORTEC Consulting Group launched a new system in 2011 called POLARIS, which combines information from a wide range of sources including COMETS data, traffic flows, commodity flows, and costs to improve North Star’s planning and decision­‐making on the ground. The system helps to ensure that future and existing clinics are strategically placed, and that the mix of health and safety services is optimal. In 2012 alone, our network of clinics saw 219,681 visits and each of these clients had their health information stored, monitored, and evaluated using COMETS.

“ORTEC Consulting Group has made a crucial contribution, not only toward improving our capacity to deliver and monitor health across our network of clinics, but toward a global capacity to monitor the health of some of Africa’s most hard-to-reach populations” says North Star Executive Director Luke Disney. “Their innovation and partnership is truly a core element of North Star’s success to date.”

From all of us at North Star Alliance, congratulations to the staff at ORTEC and ORTEC Consulting Group for this well-deserved recognition and thank you for your on-going support.

To view ORTEC’s Press Release visit: ORTEC Wins 2013 GBC Business Health Award for Humanitarian Logistics Optimization Throughout Africa

About ORTEC

ORTEC Consulting Group specialises in operations research and optimisation, using mathematical models to support a wide range of business decisions and analytical processes. Optimising revenue and supply chains, and providing advanced analytics across a wide range of data. ORTEC Consulting Group is a subsidiary of ORTEC, the world’s leading provider of optimisation software solutions and consulting services. ORTEC has over 1,650 customers worldwide, over 650 employees and offices in Europe, North America, Asia and the Pacific Region. For more information, visit ORTEC Consulting Group at http://www.ortec-consulting.com or ORTEC at http://www.ortec.com.

About GBC Health

GBCHealth represents over 200 private sector companies leading the business fight for improved global health. Through work that includes developing comprehensive workplace policies; supporting community programs; leveraging core competencies; facilitating leadership and advocacy by business leaders; and brokering public-private partnerships, GBCHealth helps members achieve their global health goals. GBCHealth also manages the private sector delegation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, serving as an entry-point for corporate collaboration and engagement with the Fund and its recipients worldwide. GBCHealth has offices in New York, Johannesburg, Beijing, and Nairobi. For more information on GBCHealth, please visit www.gbchealth.org

About North Star Alliance

North Star Alliance (North Star) is a not-for-profit public-private partnership that works at the crossroads of health and mobility. Our mission is to provide sustainable access to quality health and safety services to mobile workers and related communities. We harness the energies of more than 70 public, private and social partners to stop the spread of disease by establishing a network of strategically located clinics, called Roadside Wellness Centres, across Africa. Visit North Star Alliance online at: http://www.northstar-alliance.org. To view a mini-documentary click here: http://www.northstar-alliance.org/crossroadsdocumentary/.

Photo Courtesy of Dave Chidley

With support from partners, both old and new, we were able to open new roadside clinics (Roadside Wellness Centres) in our Southern Africa region. We were also proud to open our first West African Roadside Wellness Centre in Farafenni, The Gambia, and our first North Star Alliance laboratory in Salgaa, Kenya. Thanks to these new locations, and growing public awareness about our network of clinics, we saw approximately 220,000 client visits in a single year. For these reasons and more, we’re proud to share our 2012 Annual Overview.

Take some time to browse the report below to learn more about what we do, where we work, and the impact that our “Blue Box” clinics are having in communities across Africa. If you’d like, you can also leave us a comment.

We would like to extend our thanks to Sarah Roberto from Certo Creative Inc. for her creative lead on this report.

Overall, the response to the malaria epidemic has not been sufficient to stop the vector borne disease in its tracks. Although there has been a 25% decrease in malaria deaths worldwide since 2000, not all malaria-prone regions have been equally effective in the eradication effort. In fact, 90% of the current malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, it therefore seems highly unlikely that many African countries will be able to halt and reduce the incidence of malaria as specified in the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Today, on World Malaria Day, it is important to reaffirm our commitment to fight malaria, openly discuss realistic and feasible approaches to counter the disease, and invest in the future.

Distributing preventative mosquito nets and educating people on their use are important first steps in the eradication of the disease, but providing universal treatment for those who have fallen ill will remain an important focus for the years to come. At North Star Alliance, we realised early on that the overwhelming demand for malaria treatment at our Roadside Wellness Centres (RWC) meant that malaria treatment needed to be one of the standardised ‘tier 1′ services at each RWC. Moreover, we try to educate our clients about the dangers of vector borne diseases and promote the use of preventative measures.

If you want to find out more about World Malaria Day 2013 or see whether there are any activities going on in your area, click on the button below.

Rolling out biometric identification across our network will be an important addition to our electronic health passport system, called COMETS, which was developed and designed in close cooperation with ORTEC. Currently, we rely on clients presenting their physical health passport in order for us to access health records in COMETS. The addition of fingerprint scanners will make it easier for staff to access accurate and up-to-date client information collected at any clinic in North Star’s network. By doing so, North Star will also be able to provide an improved experience for our regular clients and increased capacity to measure health trends at the local, national, and regional level.

Funding for the pilot has been generously provided by the AIDS Fonds, a Dutch non-profit organization that supports scientific research, prevention and treatment services for vulnerable populations, and improved rights of people living with HIV. Fingerprint readers have been sourced via the German company Dermalog, which has been helpful providing technical support during the integration of the fingerprint reader into COMETS and the pilot.

The first phase of this pilot will last for a period of 2 to 3 months. If the pilot proves to be successful, we will gradually roll out the system across the entire North Star network. Until then, Sister Margaret will continue to offer the new service to visitors in Cato Ridge.