Shout It Now closes the HIV testing gap in South Africa
Achievements with Simul8
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Identified improved testing processes
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150 - 200 patients per day now being educated, tested and directed to treatment centers
About the project
To meet their goal of testing large numbers of people with a high quality service delivered in a cost effective manner, Shout It Now needed a solution to model their processes, identify bottlenecks and deliver a highly efficient service.
By gifting free simulation software, Simul8 is helping Shout It Now in their ground-breaking efforts to bring mobile HIV screening to youth and adults in the communities where they live. The organization also provides an innovative call centre service that supports clients to find clinical care or psychosocial support.
Prior to using Simul8, Shout It Now had a system that collected a range of data including arrival times of each patient and appointment duration. Shout It Now needed a way to utilize this data to drive decisions and improvements. Turning to operations research as the solution, they approached the University of Cape Town who demonstrated Simul8 for modeling this type of process.
"I met some smart people with big hearts in the NGO sector but they didn't have the business experience to deliver services comparable to what's found in the private sector. I saw an opportunity to make a real impact on the epidemic by combining my business skills with the public health skills of a few talented colleagues. This was the basis for founding Shout It Now."
Founder, Shout It Now
Creating a robust testing process
Using Simul8, Shout It Now created a robust process that sees 150 - 200 patients per day being educated, tested and directed to treatment centers. Through their work, a staggering 390,000 people have gone for an HIV test, placing them in the path of effective treatment.
This is a significant milestone for the charity and highlights the importance simulation brings to process improvement. Their achievements were recently recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) for best practices in HIV counseling, testing and care for adolescents. The charity was praised for its innovative approach to community-based HIV counseling and testing. Like those they have treated, Shout It Now has a bright future and is continuing its ground-breaking efforts to close the HIV testing gap in South Africa.
What's next for Shout It Now?
The Shout It Now team is continuing to work on exciting new developments to increase the number of patients being treated. Working with Simul8 consultants, they are using Simul8 to develop a new process that would more than double the number of patients being treated, using no additional resources.
Additional resources
We featured on BBC Tech Life! Listen to our interview on the amazing work Shout It Now are doing using Simul8
INFORMS Podcast
To mark World AIDS Day, Simul8’s Andrew Wylie and Shout It Now's William Taylor, sat down with INFORMS on their #ResoundinglyHuman podcast to discuss our recent pro-bono project!
Shout It Now webinar recording
We were so delighted to work with Shout It Now on a pro-bono simulation project and to see it play such an important role in enhancing the vital and inspiring services they provide.
Tech for Good
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Learn more about Simul8 for healthcare process improvement
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