Project Name
Harriet Shezi Children’s Clinic (HSCC), Soweto, Johannesburg
Project Focus
Public Service delivery of Specialised Paediatric and Adolescent HIV Care, Treatment and Support
Project Location
Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, (CHBAH) Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa
Duration of Project
Ongoing since 1998
Project Partners
Department of Health
Project Donors
PEPFAR
Contact
Daniel Nhemachena, Clinic Manager
Tel: +27 (0)11 933 8044
Email: dnhemachena@wrhi.ac.za
History and Background
The Harriet Shezi Children’s Clinic is the public sector paediatric HIV clinic at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, a tertiary level academic hospital situated in Soweto, South Africa. The clinic was started in 1998 by Dr Tammy Meyers. Prior to the commencement of the South African roll-out of HAART in April 2004, the clinic provided non-HAART care to more than 700 HIV-infected children. In 2011, HSSC is thought to be the largest paediatric HIV service in South Africa, and possibly the continent, with regards to the number of children ever started on ART and the number of children currently in care. By the end of September 2011, 6073 children had been registered at HSCC and more than 4900 children had ever been started on ART at the clinic. This has been made possible through the support of PEPFAR and USAID. In 2007 the Department of Health (DoH) recognized an urgent need for overwhelmed facilities offering Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) services to refer stable patients to Community Health Centres (CHC) and Primary Health Centres (PHC) where quality CCMT services can be continued. Criteria for adult and paediatric down referral were then developed. HSCC, by aiming at secondary and tertiary care, is spearheading the down referral of stable children to DoH approved sites. HSCC has transferred 1225 since September 2009.
Project Activities
- The clinic provides specialist treatment and care to HIV infected children in accordance with the National and Provincial Department of Health protocols and guidelines.
- In response to improvement s in the PMTCT program and the extended period of time that many of our paediatric patients have been attending the clinic, we have been providing an adolescent clinic service since 2006, which specializes in addressing the needs of adolescents living with HIV, including sexual and reproductive health services and psychosocial support provided by counselling psychologists and peer educators. A programme specifically dedicated to pre-adolescents has also been running from 2011 and offers the same services and support. The service also caters for training and psychosocial support of care-givers of the patients.
- Clinical staff also carries out ward consultations for the Department of Paediatrics at CHBAH.
- HSCC also has a specialist dietician involved in the nutritional management and support of all the patients who require it.
- HSCC is also very involved in conducting both operational and clinical research. HSSC is a Clinical Research Site of the NIH funded IMPAACT clinical trials network. There are currently 8 clinical trials being conducted at the clinic. In addition there are a number of investigator driven trials, including a study exploring the issue of immune reconstitution in children.
- The clinic is also a training site for medical and allied medical students of the University of the Witwatersrand.
- The Harriet Shezi Children’s Clinic provides all services and medicines free of charge.