The USAID-funded Strengthening Pharmaceutical Systems (SPS) program has been providing technical assistance to health facilities in the Northern Cape of South Africa, in partnership with the Provincial Department of Health, since 2005.

SPS addresses various areas, including: Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committees (PTCs), medicine supply management, patient adherence to antiretroviral treatment (ART), infection prevention and control, HIV/AIDS pharmaceutical management, pharmacovigilance, quantification, and compliance with the legislation relating to the supply of medicine.

About the Northern Cape, South Africa

Northern Cape, South Africa

Northern Cape is the largest province in South Africa --- 372,889 square kilometers (km²) --- with a population of 1.15 million. It represents 30.5 percent of the total surface area of South Africa.

 

HIV-positive women in Nigeria are the primary caregivers for their own families and other people living with HIV. This disproportionately high burden of care has detrimental effects not only on their health but also on their economic well-being.

The MSH-led, USAID-funded, Prevention Organization Systems AIDS Care and Treatment (ProACT) project in Nigeria has helped establish HIV support groups whose participants are 80 percent women. These groups have started providing income-generating opportunities for participants through savings and loan associations, registered with the Nigerian State Ministry of Commerce and Cooperative Societies.

 

Picture trees, water, mountains, mud, birds and fish. This is Lake Chirwa -- the second largest of the five lakes in Malawi and the main habitat of small fish called Matemba. The lake offers a trading opportunity for fishermen from many walks of life.

Lying in the southern region of Malawi, Lake Chirwa is a wetland for people of three districts: Phalombe, Zomba and Machinga. All these people have frequent contact with Mozambique as they lie near the bordering frontiers. The lake lies some 50km from Zomba District Health Office.