A training participant takes part in a handwashing exercise as part of a cholera outbreak investigation.
For Tanzania to meet a WHO-specified target of one or more epidemiologists per 200,000 population [1] it will require an additional 250 epidemiologists who are well-trained and geographically distributed in all regions of the country.
To help address this gap, I-TECH, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Ministry of Health Community, Development, Gender, Elderly and Children in Tanzania, launched a new Intermediate Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) for mid-level health professionals.
Since 2013, the ZAZIC Consortium has been implementing Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) as part of a combination HIV prevention package approved by the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) in Zimbabwe. Unlike other VMMC programs in the region, the ZAZIC model uses an integrated approach, blending local clinic ... Read More
I-TECH assists the Ministry of Health and Social Services with the expansion and provision of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) as an HIV prevention option. This support started in 2008 with the development of national guidelines and training materials, followed by national trainings of health care workers. In 2015, this ... Read More
I-TECH provides technical assistance on the clinical care and treatment of HIV and related opportunistic infections on a continuum that ranges from direct patient service delivery, to training and mentoring health care workers, to the development of national policies and health systems infrastructure. In particular, together with ministries of health and other key stakeholders, I-TECH has developed numerous curricula and clinical mentoring programs to train health care workers to safely and effectively treat patients who have HIV and TB or other opportunistic infections at a level of care commensurate with national and international standards.
I-TECH has also assisted ministries of health to create national prevention and care and treatment guidelines for infectious diseases, which has lead to standardized care and treatment for HIV, including antiretroviral therapy (ART) dosing for adults and children.
I-TECH in Namibia spearheaded use of distance learning for HIV care and treatment through the establishment of a digital video conferencing network to link Windhoek with training sites and hospitals throughout the country starting in 2008. Building off that foundation, Namibia became the first country in Africa to implement the ... Read More
I-TECH recently began to support MISAU’s National TB Program to update its national guidelines for TB, as well as the development of standard operating procedures so that clinical sites can integrate TB diagnosis, care and treatment (including of drug-resistant TB) into HIV services ... Read More
Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is considered safe and the vast majority of men heal without complication. However, guidelines require multiple follow-up visits, which can burden staff and facilities with clients who are typically healing well. With funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ZAZIC recently conducted a prospective ... Read More
I-TECH’s extensive experience in HIV prevention, care and treatment service delivery, particularly in supporting ART scale up and innovation, make us particular well-suited to support Treat All implementation and differentiated models of service delivery to improve impact. I-TECH recognizes that different clients have different needs and that patient-centered approaches are likely to result in better clinical outcomes and in turn lead to better retention, adherence, and viral suppression. I-TECH has already worked in many countries across PEPFAR to build and support health systems and develop and implement policy at all levels from Health Ministry to local ART centers, and has designed and delivered a broad spectrum of activities to improve service delivery. I-TECH is engaged in supporting Treat All scale-up and piloting DSD models in several countries.
I-TECH Tanzania led the development of the task-sharing policy guidelines for Health Sector Services approved in 2016 as well as the policy’s operational plan. While task-sharing is a widely known HIV service delivery efficiency strategy, still there is continues gaps between national strategies and actual implementation at the site-level [1,2] ... Read More
I-TECH Trinidad and Tobago collaborates with local organizations to implement programs focused on supporting the health and wellness of people living with HIV (PLHIV), including: • National HIV Helpline: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for virtual support and information on HIV testing, care, treatment, and support, and an increased ... Read More
Key populations (KP) bear disproportionate burdens of HIV infection. Globally, new infections among KPs and their sexual partners account for 36% of all new HIV infections.1 Achieving the UNAIDS “fast track” treatment targets will require a renewed and focused approach to identify most at-risk and vulnerable populations and respond to their specific needs.
Evidence suggests that KPs—notably men who have sex with men (MSM), people who inject drugs, sex workers, and transgender persons—are underserved and face violence, criminalization, ineffective policies that don’t protect their rights, and stigma and discrimination, including in health care settings. This reality prevents KPs from accessing needed HIV prevention and care services, leading to low service coverage, an important driver of ongoing HIV transmission in many resource limited settings. Young women and girls are also increasingly at risk of acquiring HIV. Acquisition of HIV is often associated with the incidence of unintended pregnancies, transactional sex, and gender-based violence.
1UNAIDS, Gap Report, 2016.
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Implementation Science
I-TECH specializes in developing appropriate research designs and methods for application in resource-limited settings, to get answers to research questions in real time. A university-based program, I-TECH draws from experts in qualitative and quantitative methods in a wide range of theoretical and practical disciplines, including health economics, anthropology, health sciences, medicine, and education.
