The Knowledge Translation Unit, in collaboration with the Biomedical Informatics Research Division of the Medical Research Council, has supported monitoring and evaluation of the Free State’s antiretroviral treatment programme since it started in 2004. This has included the development and piloting of structured clinical records, training of data capturers and clinicians, handheld data collection, the development of a data warehouse to sort and organise patient data, and the production of quarterly reports and others required by the National Department of Health (see Publications for access to quarterly reports). The daily functioning of the warehouse was successfully handed over to the Free State in December 2006 and the Unit currently curates the research copy of the warehouse. The warehouse is proving to be a unique research resource in Southern Africa as it monitors progress among patients enrolled in a treatment programme but not yet receiving antiretroviral treatment and is linked with the national mortality register. Research on this unique dataset is ongoing (see Publications) and the Unit is also a contributor to the National Institute for Health’s funded IeDEA (International Databases to Evaluate AIDS) collaboration.

Funding: University of Bern