Having monitored repeated stock outs of antiretrovirals (ARVs) in West Africa through its treatment observatories, the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) and ITPC West Africa are now standardizing treatment access data, through the creation of treatment observatories in 11 countries, through the Regional Community Treatment Observatory in West Africa (RCTO-WA).
Since launching last year, the RCTO-WA has established all 11 national observatories and the regional observatory. This involved recruitment and training of data collectors in each of the focus countries, development of a project monitoring and evaluation database, and establishment of a partnership with an academic institution to support data quality control.
Now the RCTO-WA has released first report: Why We Must Watch What Matters: Initial Findings from the RCTO-WA.

Download the report WHY WE MUST WHAT WHAT MATTERS: INITIAL FINDINGS FROM THE RCTO-WA (PDF, 1.6MB)

The report summarizes the findings of the RCTO-WA’s baseline study conducted in June and July 2017. The study documents the current status of HIV prevention, treatment and care indicators in the each of the 11 project countries, helping to establish a reference point for comparative analyses of on-going data collection.

The report identifies five key barriers to access of HIV, prevention, care, and treatment services, and offers critical insights on the role of community monitoring in addressing these barriers.
Over the course of 2018-2019, the RCTO-WA will continue to systematically monitor and analyze quantitative and qualitative data on barriers to access of HIV prevention, treatment and care services. Reports and comparative analyses will be published and made widely available on our Resources page.

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The Regional Community Treatment Observatory in West Africa (RCTO-WA) is a consortium project empowering networks of people living with HIV to systematically collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data on barriers to access. The goal is to increase access to treatment in 11 West African countries: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. The project focuses on five populations – men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers, people who inject drugs (PWID), pregnant women and young people—who are at greater risk of HIV infection and face greater challenges to accessing HIV prevention and treatment services. Find out more at www.WatchWhatMatters.com