The Aurum Institute has been awarded for being the Most Supportive Developmental Partner to the Department of Health in the North West province. The special recognition was conferred at the Phuthuma and Ideal Clinic Awards in Mahikeng recently. “This win means that Aurum has been a credible and reliable partner to the North West Department of Health (NWDoH),” said Dr Ntombifikile Mtshali, Aurum’s Managing Director: Health Systems Division.
Aurum is proud to support and guide the interventions in relation to the HIV and AIDS / STI / TB (HAST) programme in the province, she added.
Delivering the keynote address at the awards ceremony, North West Premier, Professor Tebogo Job Mokgoro said the word Phuthuma means hurry and conveys a sense of urgency associated with achieving 90-90-90 targets by December 2020. “UNAIDS defines the 90-90-90 strategy as an ambitious treatment target to help end the AIDS epidemic. Our government has aligned itself to the UNAIDS and the World Health Organization’s effort to end the AIDS epidemic. The Phuthuma Awards are therefore a means to reward and encourage those facilities which managed to hurry in attempting to meet these targets,” he said.
These awards are therefore to also recognise clinics that performed well in ensuring good infrastructure, adequate staff, adequate medicine and supplies, good administrative processes, and sufficient adequate bulk supplies.
Aurum- funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)- supports the provincial HAST programme in three districts, Dr Kenneth Kaunda (DKK), Ngaka Modiri Molema (NMM) and the Bojanala Districts. Mtshali, said Aurum has assisted the NWDoH with weekly district Phuthuma meetings and provincial quarterly Phuthuma review sessions and this year, assisted with COVID-19 response as well.
The Aurum team in the DKK District was also recently recognised by the sub-district with an award for outstanding performance and dedication in response to COVID-19.
Mtshali praised the Aurum staff in the province, led by Aurum Provincial Stakeholder Manager: Louis Mathinya and the district managers. “Gratitude to the Aurum team that serves with commitment and dedication within the NW province and thrilled to have Aurum recognised in this manner,” she said.
