Team PATA

PATA'S Mission, Vision, Values, Goals, Foundation And Purpose

Mission: PATA is an organization of individuals dedicated to expanding access to care for children affected and infected with HIV and their families throughout the African continent. PATA values and promotes models of care that address both the medical and psychosocial needs of the child and that offer high quality, integrated, patient-centred, and affordable services. The organization will work collaboratively with healthcare teams, serving as a resource to support achievement of their stated goals. PATA will facilitate the development of local capacity for high quality HIV care through promotion of learning through team work, sharing of experiences, and spreading of good practice.

Vision: The vision of PATA is for all HIV-infected and affected children in Africa to have access by 2015 to comprehensive, high quality health services including ART. PATA believes that this can best be achieved by supporting committed health care providers to enhance, expand and extend their work to impact others through a ripple effect in the community (the "PATA effect").

Values: The following values serve as guidelines for our members as we strive toward the attainment of our vision:

Integrity: We will abide by and promote honesty, trustworthiness, openness, and respect for others in all our interactions on behalf of PATA.

Commitment to the Vision: We will demonstrate our commitment by passionately harnessing our efforts to make our vision of quality healthcare for all HIV-affected/infected children a reality.

Professionalism: We will work professionally, be goal-oriented and ensure accountability. We are committed to the professional development of others and will work with care and consideration of our colleagues.

Compassion: We will exhibit compassion in our interactions as we strive toward our goals.

Team work: We are committed to working as a team, enabling, empowering, and encouraging others. We will participate enthusiastically and accept differing opinions respectfully.

Approach: PATA believes in the principle of developing sustainable interventions that are linked to, rather than in parallel with the work of government and other partners. PATA works to extend the horizons of care for each of its affiliated clinics by encouraging Treatment Teams to network with each other through annual meetings, a newsletter and the PATA website. This enables PATA teams to share learning and experience and ultimately develop their own visions for health care improvement.

PATA also supports Treatment Teams to reach out to neighbouring clinics and other partners to improve quality of care and extend the "PATA effect" through leadership and mentoring.

Foundation and Purpose: The foundation of PATA lies with the PATA teams - multidisciplinary Treatment Teams of nurses, pharmacists, counsellors and doctors, who work together at clinics across Sub-Saharan Africa to form a community of compassionate and committed individuals who provide treatment and care to children infected with HIV and their families.

The fundamental purpose of PATA is to assist Treatment Teams to improve the quality of health care they deliver to their patients.

The principle of PATA lies in the belief that Treatment Teams can best improve themselves, (collectively and individually) and the quality of their work through self-initiated projects in which they have a sense of ownership, responsibility and pride.

Goals: The six key goals for PATA shall be:

• Strengthen the PATA network of health care teams to improve health and psychosocial outcomes for children exposed to or living with HIV. This will involve increasing the spread of learning by systematically identifying and disseminating examples of replicable good practice.
• Build health care capacity in local communities through support for training, mentoring, increased access to tools, resources and information, and support for local initiatives supporting infected and affected children. PATA will seek to achieve this through fundraising from private and institutional donors, partnering with individuals and international agencies and building relationships with other field-based organizations.
• Increasing access to essential health care services for HIV-infected/affected children through provision of support for increased geographical coverage of clinics for HIV-infected and affected children as well as assistance in reaching clinics from remote sites through provision of transportation subsidies.
• Providing clinics affiliated with PATA with resources they need to improve the quality of care provided to HIV-infected and affected children. This may include support for additional staff in the form of "expert patients", assistance with training needs, mentoring, and purchase of equipment and supplies such as computers, guidance documents, job aides, and basic clinical tools.
• Strengthening aspects associated with psychosocial care and support related to children living with HIV including assistance with disclosure, addressing stigma and discrimination, management of side effects, and improving adherence to ART.
• Planning and implementing the annual PATA Forum, bringing together clinical teams serving children living with HIV infection, and following up on and providing support for achievement of goals identified by participating teams.
• Evaluate impacts of PATA interventions, including impact of performance improvement activities at PATA clinics on overall child health outcomes including overall child mortality, and impact of targeted support for HIV care and support on the delivery of broader health care.