Institute for Healthcare Improvement: South Africa

	IHI Strategy in South Africa for AIDS Treatment
	Since July 2004, IHI has been identifying rural and urban sites within the South African state-run health care system to develop "best practice" benchmarks for the rollout of AIDS treatment that can be replicated in different settings. We are clear that this has to be done with current resources and that the target for getting people on treatment is all people who need antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) in the site's catchment area. Read excerpts from the field on the Blog

	Using Efficient Models of Chronic Care and Improvement
		IHI's aim is to introduce efficient models of chronic care and realize untapped capacity by introducing tests of efficiency. We expect that each project will be self-sustaining and leading change in their area 12 months after start-up. The projects are adopting classic improvement strategies, including systems and process redesign, the use of the Chronic Care Model, the Model for Improvement and the IHI Breakthrough Series Collaborative model to further two common aims: Develop replicable urban and rural “best practice” models for treatment of HIV in children and adults that optimize existing staff and resources and Increase the capacity of local and regional systems to allow rapid scale-up of the ARV program. Our expectation is that this program directed at AIDS will strengthen the South African health system overall by introducing methods that can be applied to all chronic diseases. Early results from projects in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape show striking increases in the rate at which new patients receive treatment with simultaneous improvement in adherence, viral load suppression and overall quality of care. Learn more about IHI's work in sub-Saharan Africa.