Team PATA

PATA'S Key Achievements

"We often think that we're a drop in the ocean, but coming here (to the PATA conference) makes you realize that, as a group we are successful, and that we are achieving something. These people here are all motivated, they are the vehicle for accelerating action at a country level to make every child with HIV count. This conference creates the vision and opportunity for people to stand together. Previously, paediatric AIDS treatment has been a missing feature in the HIV treatment response."
Dr Shaffiq Essajee, Chief Clinical Operations Officer and Senior Advisor in Paediatrics to the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS initiative, at the 1st PATA Conference in Cape Town, 2005.

PATA has grown from the 2005 conference in Cape Town in response to a request from front-line paediatric treatment teams for a support and communications network. PATA now has a membership of treatment teams from 23 sub-Saharan African countries.

At the recent 2010 PATA regional forum Dr Essajee remarked:

"As I look around the room today I am reminded of the very first PATA forum I attended in Capetown. The year was 2005, and David Altschuler and Dr. Paul Roux, the co-founders of PATA brought together a small group of likeminded people to share their vision. A vision in which children living with HIV all over Africa would not have to suffer in silence and die anonymous, uncounted deaths. A world where treatment was available to all African children in need. Five years on and the organization has grown enormously... We have regionalized our operations to replicate the model of the PATA forum in East, West and Southern Africa and bring together nurses and nutritionists, doctors and counsellors from over 120 clinics across the Continent. PATA's ripple effect began in South Africa, but its now become a tidal wave that stretches from Cote d'Ivoire to Mozambique. That's an incredible accomplishment!"
Dr Shaffiq Essajee, Kampala, 2010.

Accomplishments

• PATA leads the field in paediatric HIV care in knowledge translation, task-shifting and adopting a multidisciplinary teamwork approach.
• Since 2005, a total of 158 treatment teams have participated in the five PATA forums to date and have set self-improvement goals for their clinic. In addition, three local PATA forums have involved 200 participants from across sectors working on adolescent care in the Western Cape (SA), the training of 80 primary health care sisters in TB/HIV in the Eastern Cape (SA), and 10 multidisciplinary treatment teams from across Lesotho.
• Dissemination of models of best practice and shared knowledge on the topics of: Adherence, Access, Acumen, Communication, Disclosure, TB/HIV, Adolescent care, Care for the carer, Nutrition in HIV, Care of the very young infant with HIV, Making changes in your service, Advanced ART and a Psychosocial toolkit for clinics, through the PATA forum, website, newsletter and annual proceedings.
• PATA forums and materials are translated into English, French and Portuguese, enabling the participation of Francophone and Lusophone clinics across the region.
• More than thirty academic institutions have contributed to PATA's academic programme; representatives from these institutions have volunteered to act in a mentorship role to PATA teams.
• Representatives from PATA's international and regional strategic partners including UNICEF, the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative, WHO, Partners in Health and ANECCA, serve on the PATA steering committee. Others from organisations such as Baylor, Keth'impilo (ARK), MSF and M2M2B have contributed to the PATA academic programme. Some PATA steering committee members serve on UNICEF's inter-agency task team for paediatric HIV.
• PATA has partnered with numerous national-level paediatric HIV associations and in 2009, received national level recognition in South Africa in the form of an award from the Health Professions Council of South Africa for improving the lives of sub-Saharan children living with HIV and AIDS.
• Linking clinics to communities and meaningful engagement of people living with HIV within the treatment team through the expert patient programme.
• Task-shifting to free up the time of health care workers through the expert patient programme.