NACOSA hosts Community-led Monitoring Summit

While medical science has made significant progress on HIV, AIDS, TB and other sexual and reproductive health challenges, it is communities that can close gaps in prevention and treatment and help us get to the finish line. Communities are the experts. They understand the issues that stand in the way of better health in their areas. Community-led monitoring and advocacy empowers local communities to take an active role in identifying and addressing the issues that matter most to them.

NACOSA implements a community-led monitoring project in the West Rand, Gauteng with the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) and the West Rand Department of Health. Data collectors like Clementine Tiba from community-based organisation, Rotanganedza Community Care (RCC), monitor local conditions and data at 15 health facilities to identify specific gaps and issues. Data is also collected from three clinical forensic medical centres and community-based organisations Rotanganedza, Tshepo Ya Bana and Boithuto Lesedi. Analysis of the data enables local-level advocacy and helps improve relations between facilities and communities.

NACOSA is hosting the COUNT US IN Community-Led Monitoring Summit, bringing together community data collectors, organisations, health facility staff and other government and donor stakeholders over two days to share learning and skills in community-lead monitoring and advocacy. It will also be an opportunity to use the insights gained from the project to advocate for improved health outcomes and policy reforms at local and national levels.

The first day of the summit will be about building capacity for community-led monitoring with opportunities for learning, networking and skills-building. On Day Two, the focus will shift to advocating for change, moving from data to action to improve healthcare access and outcomes for the West Rand and beyond.

Community-led monitoring enhances transparency and effectiveness in healthcare. The project has already had an impact in the West Rand:

• Following PrEP-related feedback sessions with facility managers, people who visited the 15 monitored sites were 32% more likely to initiate PrEP following an HIV test compared to other West Rand health facilities.
• The percentage of older men living with HIV who know their status increased from 8% in 2022 to 88.9% in 2023, following a data-driven campaign to increase community-led HIV testing from 20.4% in 2022 to 33.6% in 2023 (surpassing the United Nation target).
• After using data to alleviate stockouts of TB medicines, the treatment success rate at monitored sites increased from 88% in 2022 to 91% in 2023, surpassing the End TB target of 90% by 2025 as well as South Africa’s national treatment success rate of 79%.
• Enhanced patient tracking for pregnant foreign nationals was implemented based on community-led monitoring insights. In 2023, women at monitored sites were twice as likely to deliver in the health facility as compared to other West Rand facilities, reducing the risk of vertical transmission.

Community-led monitoring focuses on problems and challenges faced by the local community, ensuring their voices are heard. It can also be a highly effective and targeted way to find solutions to local health and other issues.

NACOSA, together with its community-based implementing partners, is urging policy-makers, donors and health facilities to #CountUsIn by embracing the community-led monitoring approach to advance health service delivery.