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Integrating hepatitis research and services into current care: Lessons from implementing team

A Versfeld, Y Andrews, R Basson, A McBride, M Mcingana, J MacKay, R Motlafi, L Moses

Abstract


In 2016, a consortium of partners initiated a national cross-sectional study on viral hepatitis B and C among high-risk populations in South Africa. Counselling, prevention, testing and referral services were integrated into programmes that were already implementing HIV prevention services to the included populations. After study completion, we undertook a process of reflecting on challenges and lessons learned from the perspective of the service provision team. In this article, we highlight three key takeaways: additional activities can have exponential increases in workload; insufficient inclusion of service providers at planning stages has multiple long-term costs; and having to repeatedly relay infectious disease diagnoses to service users can carry an emotional toll for service providers.

Authors' affiliations

A Versfeld, School of African & Gender Studies, Anthropology and Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cape Town, South Africa; TB HIV Care, Cape Town, South Africa

Y Andrews, TB HIV Care, Cape Town, South Africa

R Basson, TB HIV Care, Cape Town, South Africa

A McBride, OUT-Wellbeing, Pretoria, South Africa; South African Network of People Who Use Drugs, Cape Town, South Africa

M Mcingana, TB HIV Care, Cape Town, South Africa

J MacKay, TB HIV Care, Cape Town, South Africa

R Motlafi, ANOVA Health4Men, Johannesburg, South Africa

L Moses, TB HIV Care, Cape Town, South Africa

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Cite this article

Southern African Journal of Public Health (incorporating Strengthening Health Systems) 2020;4(2):47-49. DOI:10.7196/SHS.2020.v4i2.102

Article History

Date submitted: 2020-08-14
Date published: 2020-08-14

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