Forms, News, Publications | 13 Nov 2017
At the heart of the National Strategic Plan for HIV TB and STI’s 2017-2022 is the strategy Focus for Impact that uses detailed information, data and insights to identify populations most at risk in areas most severely affected by HIV and TB. While comprehensive prevention, care and treatment will be provided country-wide, intensified concentrated efforts are needed in regions that have been identified as HIV and TB high-burden areas.
The NSP thus introduces this more intensified, more strategic focus at provincial, district and ward level to maximize the impact of its efforts. The purpose of this strategy is to ensure saturation of high-impact prevention and treatment services and strengthened efforts to address the social and structural factors that increase vulnerability to infection. Nationally, but especially in high burden areas, key and vulnerable populations most profoundly affected by the epidemics will receive intensified focus to empower them, improve service access and reduce barriers to service uptake. There will be a substantially stronger focus on adolescent girls and young women and also not forgetting adolescent boys and young men.
The Focus for Impact approach aims to answer four key questions needed in ensuring a targeted high-impact response to HIV and TB:
Focus for Impact brings together three important components – data, tools and technology and people – to support coordination, monitoring and decision-making in the HIV, TB and STI response.
The Focus for Impact approach is visualized through a web and mobile phone application that presents key data and associated information to help government departments, civil society organisations, donors and development partners to make informed decisions about the HIV, TB and STI epidemic in their area. The platform geographically describes and visualises the patterns in the distribution of HIV, TB and STIs using routine facility primary health care level data at the lowest level possible (ward level).
Ward level data on HIV positivity rate displayed in maps.
It is important to understand the context in the community that increases the risk for HIV, TB and STI infection, using the existing data and statistics where they are available. Through the Focus for Impact platform, we can gather local level knowledge from different groups through community engagement. The outcome is a ‘living document’, with each community profile updated as new insights and information becomes available.
“The ‘focus for impact’ approach offers a roadmap for fully leveraging scientific advances, while greater engagement of affected communities and all sectors frames the response. Through this NSP we can set a path that ensures that our country will be free from the burden of HIV, TB and STIs.” – NSP 2017-2022
Organisations can gain access to the web-application – indeed, it is recommended that as many people as possible register to access the data as it helps in improved coordination and decision making.
Download the Focus for Impact registration form
