About Strengthening Systems

Selaelo Mabela is a community oriented woman living in Limpopo Province which is predominantly rural. She is a professional nurse with specialization in Paediatric nursing and has several diplomas and degrees amongst which are BA, MBA. She is currently completing her MPH with Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University. She has lived her life providing services (mostly health related) to South Africans in Limpopo, North West, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Kwa Zulu Natal since 1979 and has worked in both for the public sector and NGOs. She is currently working for FPD as a District Technical Advisor: Health Systems Strengthening supporting Limpopo Province. She is a member of Capricorn District AIDS Council, Limpopo M&E technical committee and Capricorn District Technical Working Group for District Implementation (DIP). She enjoys the advisory role bestowed on her and the trust and cooperation that she gets from the people that she works with in government, community and FPD.

Dr Ntsetse Kgopong is the Clinical Programme Manager for Capricorn under the IHSS Technical Assistance Department. She is responsible for overseeing the overall operations of the Capricorn Roving Mentor Teams (RMTs), as well as the clinical operations of the TB/HIV and STI programmes plus their sub-programs. Dr Kgopong is a medical doctor from a rural community in Limpopo Province with an interest in the management of HIV/AIDS and TB. I hold a BSc, MBChB, Diploma in HIV Management and AHMP with FPD. Dr. Kgopong has been with FPD since 2007 as an HIHV clinican, roving clinical mentor and as an NHI GP before being appointed in her current role.

Mzee Lwana a District Technical Advisor in Tshwane District at FPD. He is a Nurse and Social Scientist Graduate of the University of Transkei. He is responsible for leading FPD’s district-level health systems strengthening programme to improve HIV and TB patient outcomes in Tshwane District. His focus areas include: Planning, Support, Monitoring, Evaluation, Donor fund management and Programs review, leveraging HIV programmes to strengthen the health system, integrating programmes (HIV, TB, MCH, NCDs) & upscaling provision of services to Key Populations.

Dr Sinah Vlug is the Clinical Programme Manager for Tshwane under the IHSS Technical Assistance Department. She is responsible for overseeing the overall operations of the Tshwane Roving Mentor Teams (RMTs), as well as the clinical operations of the TB/HIV and STI programmes plus their sub-programs. Dr Vlug is a medical doctor who also studied bioethics and health law. She has extensive experience as an HIV specialist, clinical facilitator and mentor with special interest in adolescent and child health. Dr Vlug has been with FPD since 2007 as a pediatrics HIV clinician, roving clinical mentor and as an NHI GP before being appointed in her current role.

Lillian Mnisi joined FPD in March 2014 as a technical advisor for Nkangala district hereby she is responsible for leading FPD’s district-level health systems strengthening programme to improve HIV and TB patient outcomes. She is an experienced clinical nurse, midwife and reproductive health nurse. She worked as a clinical and classroom nurse educator also providing in service education. She worked as district program manager for Mother and Child health and later as provincial HAS program manager in Gauteng health Department. During her tenure as programme manager she developed policies, undertook research, headed the Gauteng/WITS PMTCT forum and organised national and provincial HIV awareness events.

Dr Tema Franco is the Clinical Programme Manager for FPD Nkangala District under the IHSS Technical Assistance Department. He is responsible for overseeing the overall operations of the Nkangala District Roving Mentor Teams (RMTs), as well as the clinical operations of the TB/HIV and STI programmes. He joined FPD in 2013 as a medical mentor, then later (in 2015) NHI GP Contract. He has studied Advanced Pediatrics HIV management and developed interest in Drug resistant TB management. He received an appreciation award from Regional Training Center for the Best Mentor.

Funeka Wongama is a professional nurse and holds a Bachelor of Art in Nursing Science (University of South Africa) and a Master in Public Health (University of Pretoria). Funkea is FPD’s District Technical Advisor for Buffalo City Metro Health District in Eastern Cape whereby she is responsible for leading FPD’s district-level health systems strengthening programme to improve HIV and TB patient outcomes. Before joining FPD she worked as a Monitoring and Evaluation specialist in Provincial Department of Health in Eastern Cape and in the Office of the Premier as a Social Transformation Monitoring Specialist. She contributed in the development of the first Eastern Cape Provincial Evaluation Plan.

Monwabisi Mgulwa is a professional nurse and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Nursing Science degree, Certificate in Primary Health Care Nursing, Diploma in Human Resources Management and other certificates in different management/leadership and clinical fields. Monwa worked as a professional nurse and then transitioned to management whereby he held position of Senior Hospital Manager for 12 years in a district hospital. Monwa has worked for FPD since 2008 on the that’sit project as project manager for HIV/TB integration. He has worked for FPD as a District Technical Advisor in Amathole Health District for 5 years until project close-out whereby he was responsible for leading FPD’s district-level health systems strengthening programme to improve HIV and TB patient outcomes. He is currently employed as FPD’s Clinical Programme Manager in Buffalo City Metro whereby he is responsible for overall operations of the Buffalo City Metro Roving Mentor Teams (RMTs), as well as the clinical operations of the TB/HIV and STI programmes plus their sub-programs

Thato Farirai is an HTS Specialist at FPD under the Community based HIV Counselling and Testing program funded by USAID. She holds an honours degree in Social Work from Rhodes University and is currently completing a Master in Public Health with Wits University. Thato has been involved in HIV counselling and testing for over 15 years. She has played a major role in the expansion of HTS in South Africa, through innovative methods of testing for HIV. She has been involved in the development of the first HIV counselling and testing policy with the National Department of Health. Thato has been part of the core team in the development of HCT programs including couple testing, PICT and rapid finger prick training both in PEPFAR and in South Africa. Her interest in community development projects has sharpened her skills in project planning, implementation and monitoring. She has been privileged to provide technical assistance to a variety of projects focusing on improving community access to HIV services and improving skills of service providers to ensure healthier lives.

Nkuna Khensani is a qualified Professional nurse with B cur and MPH degrees and Advance Health Management Programme. She is currently working as an HIV Counselling and Testing specialist for FPD under CBCT department (Community Based HIV Counseling and Testing). Her main role is to manage the roll out and implementation of the Community Based HIV Counselling services in Nkangala District at Mpumalanga and in four district in Eastern Cape (Chris Hani, Sarah Baartman, Nelson Mandela Bay and OR Tambo Districts) under KFW funding/ German funding. She has 3 years experience in clinical work from Department of health and 9 years experience in FPD where by her previous role included the following: TB AND HIV mentor, Area manager, and District Technical advisor for Vhembe District In Limpopo for FPD.

Barend Botha is a registered pharmacist and holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree (University of Pretoria) and an Advanced Certificate in Health Management (FPD). Barend is an international health specialist with at least 20 years’ experience in pharmaceutical supply chain management, the development and implementation of HIV/AIDS community programs and in health systems strengthening in Southern Africa. He is currently the Technical Advisor on Supply Chain Management at FPD and previously served as the Senior Program Manager of the USAID New Partners Initiative Program. As a Director and the Senior Program Manager at FHI360, he was also responsible for the management, overall oversight, technical assistance, financial monitoring and the local lead on the CDC funded VCT program.

Rick Stephen grew up in Aberdeen, Scotland (UK). Rick’s sense of adventure started in 1978 when he decided to immigrate to New Zealand. He came via South Africa on holiday and never left. “I felt a deep sense of belonging and knew my destiny, for some inexplicable reason would be in this country. I found my destiny in 1988 when I was diagnosed with HIV” This led Rick into the world of HIV/AIDS where he has “lived, worked and slept ever since” working with many local, regional and international networks/organisations in Organizational Development and PLHIV empowerment programs. Rick is the Operations Manager for the Adherence Programme which provides ART Adherence Club Services as part of FPDs Direct Service Delivery (DSD) to HIV+ stable clients through effective monitoring and best practice implementation of Health Systems Strengthening in long term adherence and retention strategies.

Martin is a Proficiency Testing and Quality Improvement (PTQI) Manager based at FPD Head office under the IHSS Technical Assistance Department. His role is to oversee the quality assurance aspects of HIV testing in four comprehensive districts (Capricorn, Nkangala, Tshwane and recently Buffalo City). Martin Masango is a Medical Laboratory Technologist by profession, where his focus was drawn to laboratory diagnosis and research. He developed an interest in Lab Quality Management systems and studied Pharmaceutical Sciences in view of complementing his knowledge in other related fields. Previous collaboration with FPD on QA has led him to join the organization in July 2016.

Locardiah Mlambo (MSc Medical Statistics) is FPD’s Senior Biostatistician with over 20 years of expertise in all phases of the analytical process. She has extensive experience in the design and analysis of large-scale cohort, cross-sectional and intervention studies. In her current position she leads the implementation of protocol methodology, appropriate study designs, statistical analysis plans, the development of randomization schedules, sample size and power calculations activities for studies in the TA’s primary focus areas. Ms. Mlambo was previously the Senior Biostatistician for CDC South Africa’s PEPFAR program’s Strategic Information Branch. She also served as a Statistician for the South African Medical Research Council’s Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit (RMPRU) for 10 years. In her capacity within the RMPRU she was lead statistician on HIV related clinical trials and currently sits as a member of the Data Safety Monitoring Board for Clinical trials at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit.

Maanda Mudau is a graduate of the South African Filed Epidemiology Training Programme and holds a MPH from the University of Pretoria and a BSc MedSc (Hons) in Epidemiology from Stellenbosch University. He has also received training in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in disease control programmes at the Royal Tropical institute in the Netherlands. Prior to working for FPD he was an epidemiologist at Health Systems Trust, supporting PEPFAR-funded health systems strengthening activities. He worked as lead epidemiologist in the South African National Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Survey at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), Centre for Tuberculosis. He has experience in surveillance of bacterial and viral healthcare acquired infections within the obstetrics/gynecology and paediatric setting. He has published peer-reviewed articles and some of the work he has done has been presented in conferences locally and internationally. In 2014 he received the Norvatis Vaccines Award for Infectious Disease Epidemiology from the International Society for Infectious Diseases for work he did in Geographic Information Systems. He also received an award for best publication from the University of Pretoria, School of Health Systems and Public Health. His current area of focus is Sexually Transmitted Infections during pregnancy and their impact on neonatal health and developmental outcomes. Other areas of interest include geospatial analysis of infectious disease patterns and applications of molecular techniques in public health/epidemiological research.

Simukai Shamu, PhD. is a Behavioural Scientist and Epidemiologist, currently serving as a Senior Epidemiologist. He received training in public health and social epidemiology. Simukai has a strong history of development and evaluation of interventions among women, adolescents and children along with epidemiological studies of communicable and non-communicable diseases. His research interests are in maternal and child health research, intimate partner violence and HIV prevention research. Simukai employs both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies in most of his intervention and evaluation studies. He is currently a Co-Investigator for a randomised controlled trial on Youth HIV prevention and economic strengthening in South Africa. Previously, he was a Senior Scientist at the South African Medical Research Council where he conducted research on primary prevention of intimate partner violence and HIV among adolescents.

Jean Slabbert is FPD’s Senior M&E Advisor to FPD’s Community-Based HIV Testing Service (CB-HTS) Programmes. In addition to the routine M&E and reporting requirements, Jean manages the continued development and rollout of the CB-HTS mobile application and USSD surveys. Jean has a Master degree in Econometrics and nearly ten years’ experience in monitoring and evaluation across various industries. He prides himself on his ability to optimise the technical efficiency of systems and processes he manages. Jean has a passion for people, strives to live what he believes in every circumstance and believes that strength is for service, not status.

Wentzel Kruger joined the Compass team at FPD in 2009 as part-time mapping assistant. He now heads Compass as Project Manager. Specialising in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) he has played a critical role in the planning and implementation of many projects. Driven and ambitious he is continuously wanting to develop new skills and welcomes new challenges with open arms. With 8 years of experience in spatial data analysis, demographics, community - and regional (SADC) mapping, he continuously strives to deliver quality services.

Romy Overmeyer has over 10 years in the corporate and development sectors, incorporating aspects of profit maximization to managing large funding agreements. With a degree in Actuarial Science and Mathematical Statistics, her core technical focus has been M&E and Analytics. She has managed large, complex teams across multiple disciplines including Health Informatics, M&E, Health Behaviour Interventions, Business Process, and Training. She was employed at Foundation for Professional Development as the Head of Department for Strategic Information in October 2014. Romy is currently a Technical Advisor for Strategic Information to the National Department of Health. She is the lead for the Strategic Information Technical Working Group on the 90-90-90 initiative and has also led the process to set targets across all provinces in support of the National Annual Performance Plan for Health.