Anova is actively involved in improving the public healthcare system through skills building, training, mentoring and hosting workshops on best clinical practice in all our areas of expertise. Our technical assistance and direct service support increases access to high quality care. See our section on Education for more on our training initiatives.
We also offer community support through our outreach teams. At our outreach events, we offer free HIV Testing Services, and educational and awareness material around sexual health, specifically HIV and other STIs.
We supply the clinics and communities we support with condoms and lube branded under our Health4Men Initiative. Promoting positive sexual health – our condoms and lube, which are packaged in a fresh and appealing way, are very popular as the brand has become associated with a condom that is reliable and good quality. We produce health booklets, health messaging campaigns and IEC material for our clinics and outreach events. See our Marketing section for more on the products we produce.
mHealth is the new frontier of accessing and analysing health information. Mentoring is one of Anova’s critical focus areas, and in line with this and mobile technology, Anova supports the Department of Health in getting some of their mHealth initiatives off the ground, training healthcare workers to be able to utilise and assist clients in using the technology. Most recently, Anova supported clinics with the national pregnancy registry app, MomConnect, in Cape Winelands, City of Johannesburg and Mopani District. MomConnect uses SMS text messages to remind women of critical appointments for tests and check-ups, and to deliver essential health and childcare information by providing essential information via SMS during pregnancy and for a year thereafter, for free. It ultimately aims improve maternal and under-five mortality rates in South Africa. MomConnect provides government with feedback on key maternal and child health indicators.
Anova utilises digital communication channels to create awareness and drive positive sexual health behavior. We have an Anova website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Youtube channel to relay relevant content and connect to our audiences. Our Health4Men Initiative has a website that has a clinic finder function which allows men who have sex with men to find their closest gay-friendly clinic.