Team PATA

A Short History of PATA

The PATA initiative has its roots in Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa, where One to One Children's Fund began funding much needed ARV medication in a pilot project for 250 families. The project demonstrated extraordinary results and boosted the case for sharing the treatment model with other treatment sites across the continent. Whilst the ARV effect was dramatic and over 90% of the children soon returned to full health, it became clear that the complexities surrounding HIV/AIDS treatment required a holistic rather than a rigidly clinical approach.

The most successful model has been based around the formation of dedicated 4-person professional teams consisting of a physician, a nurse, a psychologist/ counselor and a pharmacist. As a unit, such a multi-disciplinary team can handle almost any clinical, social or educational problem likely to be encountered in an HIV-affected family.

Towards the end of 2004, the South African government finally accepted the responsibility of developing a national ARV programme. The One to One Children' s Fund, with its local partner, the Kidzpositive family Fund, began to formulate plans for the creation of an Africa-wide network of treatment teams to improve and expand the delivery of care and treatment to thousands more children and their families.

Initially, treatment teams from other regions in sub-Saharan Africa were invited to Cape Town to see the Groote Schuur model in action. Then the first PATA conference was born in 2005 bringing together 23 treatment teams from 12 African countries. The themes of PATA 2005 were Access, Adherence and Acumen. The conference resulted in recommendations for best practice in critical areas.

In Nairobi, Kenya, 33 teams from 18 countries attended PATA 2006 where the themes of communication and disclosure were the focus of the conference. An outcome of this conference was the launching of PATA's Expert Patient Pilot project at interested clinics within the network. In June 2007, 20 teams from within the network opted to participate in this programme with 73 expert patients being employed within these clinics.

40 treatment teams from 20 countries attended PATA 2007 in Manzini, Swaziland, where the focus of the workshop was on TB/HIV, the Adolescent with HIV and Caring for the carer. Based on the preliminary success of the Expert Patient pilot, the One to One children's Fund extended their sponsorship of the expert patient programme and there are currently 33 treatment teams participating in the expert patient programme. PATA will be reporting back on the impact of this programme through a poster exhibit titled 'Task shifting in paediatric ARV clinics through employment of 'expert patients' at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico on the 6th of August 2008.