ACTIVITY HAS BEEN MODIFIED IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:

In addition to the current courses offered, Health Science Academy (HSA) will introduce two new courses in

2009. FY 2009 funds will also enable Health Science Academy to increase PEPFAR capacity by employing

a training coordinator for the two new courses. The new courses address the current needs of the National

Department of Health (NDOH). The NDOH is currently unable to roll out a full-scale program and regards

capacitating itself in order to do so as a priority. The two new courses are:

1) Pharmacovigilance Course

Target group: Public sector pharmacists in South Africa

Program design: The course will be presented as a self-learning package of a manual and CD, supported

by two contact sessions. Focused learning activities and tasks will be included in the learning material.

Assessment methodology: Candidates will compile a portfolio during the course and complete a written

assessment on completion.

Duration: The course will take six months to complete and will be spread over two years. In the first year FY

2010 Health Science Academy will train 375 learners and another 375 will be trained in FY 2011.

Content: Learning material will include the following topics:

- The role of pharmacovigilance in patient safety

- Concepts and principles of pharmacovigilance

- Adverse drug reactions (ADRs): efficacy and risk in treatment

- Identifying and managing adverse drug reactions

- HIV medication-related ADRs

- Pharmacovigilance for pediatric patients

- Pharmacovigilance of complementary, alternative and traditional medicines

- Communication in pharmacovigilance

- Bringing it all together: Pharmacovigilance in the health care facility

2) HIV and Aids Comprehensive Care Management and Treatment course:

Health Science Academy will address the HIV and AIDS Adherence and Counseling modules of the course.

This is a new request from NDOH for Health Science Academy. The course is structured as follows:

Target group: Pharmacist, Nurses and Medical Doctors

Program Design: The course is presented as an interactive workshop based on lectures and participatory

learning methods suitable for adult learners. As well as self-study component. The registration period is 6

months.

Assessment Methodology: Learner assessment will be both formative and summative. 20% will be assigned

during the workshop for group assignments. 80% will be allocated to the submission of an assignment after

completing the self-study component of the course.

Duration: Six days spread over six months

Content: Learning material will include the following topics:

-Epimiodology and prevention

- Pathogenesis

- Diagnosis

- Monitoring HIV and AIDS

- Clinical features

- Opportunistic infections

- Neurological complications

- Neoplasm's

- ARV management

- Nutrition

- HIV and infant feeding

- PEP

- Sexually Transmitted Infections

- Vaccines

- HIV and AIDS in the workplace

- Palliative care

Health Science Academy is also committed to supporting the Gauteng province to train more dispensing

practitioners than in other provinces. HSA aims to train:

- 600 Community-based Care Givers

- 75 Adherence Counseling

- 1,000 Dispensing Course

- 108 Pharmacists' Assistant

Health Science Academy will place more emphasis on the Pharmacists' Assistant course. Courses for

which the uptake is slow will be phased out. These courses include Adherence Counseling and Drug Supply

Chain Management. This will allow Health Science Academy to decrease the targets in the above areas

and add more to the Dispensing and Pharmacists' Assistant courses.

Activity Narrative: Repackaging of the slow courses

As stated above, the Adherence Course is seen as only a part of the comprehensive HIV and AIDS

Management course. The uptake has been very slow for this course. The organization will train 75

healthcare professionals from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health. The course is designed for

healthcare professionals who hold bachelors degrees and higher. Health Science Academy will repackage

the course in order to accommodate other healthcare professionals with lower qualifications but who are

engaged in HIV and AIDS work.

Health Science Academy is amongst few partners accredited by the South African Pharmacy Council to

provide Pharmacists' Assistant training. This provides an opportunity to train other PEPFAR partners, such

as Foundation for Professional Development, CAPRISA, Absolute Return for Kids (ARK) and Right to Care.

Training in the Private Sector

The program stated that pharmacists in the private sector will be targeted as an extension of the HIV and

AIDS management in communities by virtue of their expertise in the field. Health Science Academy would

intensify advocacy of the program to the private sector in general and the private pharmacists in particular.

Partnerships

Health Science Academy will continue forming partnerships with PEPFAR partners first and other training

providers in general. It is through such partnerships that Health Science Academy will train community care

givers in Limpopo, Eastern Cape, North West and Mpumalanga.

A relationship with RPM Plus in the implementation of the Supply Chain Management will be sought.

------------------------------

SUMMARY:

Health Science Academy (HSA) is a new FY 2007 PEPFAR partner. HSA will increase access and the

availability of safe and effective drug treatment through human resource development, with a specific

emphasis of pharmacists and pharmacist assistants. HSA aims to substantially increase the number of

South African healthcare workers with the appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes to support substantial

rollout of antiretroviral treatment (ART). The major emphasis areas are human capacity development and

local organization capacity building. The primary target population for this project is healthcare

professionals, such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists and pharmacist assistants, as well as community-

based healthcare workers and caregivers.

BACKGROUND:

HSA is a South African training institution, accredited with the South African Pharmacy Council, providing

training in the pharmaceutical sector. HSA is a training provider to the National Department of Health

(NDOH), provincial Departments of Health and the pharmacy profession in the private sector. PEPFAR

funding will be utilized to scale up the existing HSA training activities. The project will be implemented on a

national and provincial level, and will expand on the already existing relationship between HSA and the

National Department of Health and respective provincial human resource departments. The proposed

training programs have already been developed and this, in conjunction with the existing NDOH contracts,

will allow the proposed training to be fast-tracked. In line with HSA's past practice, learners will be recruited

with an emphasis on gender and racial representation and will give preference to women wanting to register

for the national qualification, providing increased access to income for this group.

ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED RESULTS:

The project will deal predominantly with the training of healthcare professionals in the public sector in order

to increase capacity, enhance the skills of existing staff and increase the number of skilled staff available.

In addition the project will also attempt to leverage existing private sector pharmacists in the provision of

adherence counseling for patients on ART and expand the role of community workers. The overall goals of

these training activities are: 1) increased ability in the public sector to dispense antiretroviral drugs (ARV); 2)

increased access to HIV care and treatment; 3) increased capacity in the public sector to adequately

manage the supply chain; and 4) improved adherence support in the provision of adherence counseling,

monitoring and evaluation. HSA will introduce two new courses from clent request: Comprehensive HIV

and AIDS Care, Management and Treatment (CCMT) and Pharmacovigilance. In addition, further trainings

will be given in supply chain management. These courses will have to be revised to meet the criteria of the

Council forHigher Education. The following training courses will be offered:

ACTIVITY 1: Adherence Counseling

This activity will increase the role of the pharmacist and pharmacist assistant in both the public and private

sector with respect to counseling and monitoring of adherence to treatment regimens. The training is

offered as a competency-based training course facilitated by a two day workshop. Workshops will be

offered in each province and will be available to both the public and private sector (e.g. NGOs, FBOs,

private clinics, etc.) providing HIV care and treatment services.

ACTIVITY 2: Supply Chain Management

This activity deals specifically with drug supply management and will improve the capacity of the public

sector in providing access to safe and effective drug treatment through good distribution practices. The

program will enhance the skill of existing staff in the public sector, such as nurses, pharmacists and other

personnel involved in the procurement and supply of medicines. The course is offered as a competency-

Activity Narrative: based training course facilitated by a two day workshop. Workshops will be offered in each province along

with the option to do cascade training at a provincial level.

ACTIVITY 3: Dispensing

This activity deals with the provision of dispensing training for all authorized prescribes in the public sector

as specified by the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act 101 of 1965. This is a distance learning

program that will provide healthcare providers in under-serviced areas access to the training, specifically

clinic nurses who require a dispensing license in order to dispense in ARV clinics. A half day orientation

workshop is offered to nurses and doctors in the public sector who are registered in this course.

ACTIVITY 4: Pharmacist Assistants

This activity will train pharmacist assistants on a national qualification accredited by the South African

Pharmacy Council, based on unit standards in line with the regulated scope of practice of a pharmacist's

assistant. This activity will increase the pool of pharmacist assistants available to the public sector ART

programs by training people living with HIV and other school leavers as pharmacist assistants. This activity

requires that learners be employed in a pharmacy for on-the-job skills training and includes modular

assessment of the learner. Workshops will be made available for groups requiring additional training or

tutoring.

ACTIVITY 5: Community-Based Care for People Living with HIV

This activity will train a core group of community health workers as ancillary health workers offering

community-based care for people living with HIV. Particular emphasis will be placed on extending the role

of the community-based health worker with regard to pharmacological aspects of ART such as monitoring

adverse effects and compliance. The training program provides a national certificate and comprises

practical onsite skills training facilitated by workshops.

Study material for all the activities has been developed by leading experts in relevant specialties and the

course content is continually updated and refined to meet the needs of the individuals being trained.

The above activities address the 2-7-10 PEPFAR goals by developing capacity with regard to supply chain

logistics and pharmaceutical management to improve the quality of ART services.

New/Continuing Activity: Continuing Activity

Continuing Activity: 13768

Continued Associated Activity Information

Activity Activity ID USG Agency Prime Partner Mechanism Mechanism ID Mechanism Planned Funds

System ID System ID

13768 8242.08 HHS/Centers for Health Science 6601 4748.08 $850,000

Disease Control & Academy

Prevention

8242 8242.07 HHS/Centers for Health Science 4748 4748.07 New APS 2000 $500,000

Disease Control & Academy

Prevention

Emphasis Areas

Human Capacity Development

Estimated amount of funding that is planned for Human Capacity Development $530

Public Health Evaluation

Food and Nutrition: Policy, Tools, and Service Delivery

Food and Nutrition: Commodities

Economic Strengthening

Education

Water

Table 3.3.09: