Krista Dong & Zinny Thabethe | iTeach South Africa
Fellows work to maximize the impact of their ideas through design. They work through a systematic process driven by the five elements of scalability: real impact, big bang for the buck, lasting behavior change, easy replication, and the right path to scale. Fellows participate in the program for two years, working through several design iterations.
THE IDEA: iTeach South Africa
Find the critical leverage points to jumpstart a faltering health system: design critical, cost-effective, targeted interventions that pull the disparate pieces of HIV/TB efforts together
HOW IT WORKS
- TB Warriors
- Recruit talented, underemployed lay people
- Manage them separate from public health institution
- Create relationships with key hospital and clinic employees
- Warriors are assigned to patients with suspected TB
- Warriors ensure that specimens are collected and get to the lab
- Warrior ensure that results get to physicians and the right meds are prescribed
- Warriors ensure that patients get meds and the right follow-up is arranged
- Patients are plugged into other iTeach interventions
THE PERSON: Krista Dong & Zinny Thabethe
Zinny and Krista are a powerhouse duo that brings complementary backgrounds to bear on HIV and TB in South Africa
Zinny Thabethe has a deep understanding of the epidemic in South Africa from her own family experiences; Krista Dong has years of experience as a Harvard-trained immunologist. The two are joined at the hip in their efforts to find solutions at the epicenter of the epidemic.
THE STORY
KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa is the epicenter of the HIV/TB epidemic, with jaw-dropping rates of infection and mortality. From media campaigns to plentiful HIV drugs to relatively well-funded institutions, South Africa is working hard, but the system remains dysfunctional and the pieces suboptimal. As a pair, Zinny and Krista understand the epidemic from inside out, the local and national culture, and what’s right and wrong about the pieces of the response to the epidemic. They’ve come up with several beautifully targeted, scalable interventions that turn well-intentioned efforts into high-performance systems. Their signature “TB Warriors” program uses lay workers to guide and coordinate all of TB care, pulling the disparate pieces together and ensuring that suspected cases are tested, treated, and followed. Other ingenious iTeach solutions including text messages to educate and inform, a massive media campaign using hip-hop stars, and the use of traditional healers as HIV and TB outreach and follow-up workers. The common thread of all their work is scalability and leverage.
CONTACT
Edendale Hospital: Ward 5B-2
Private Bag X 509
Plessislaer
3216
South Africa
E-mail: office.iteach@gmail.com
Tel No: +27 (0) 33 395-4523
Fax No: +27 (0) 33 395-4523