Yogan Pillay

• Doctor of Public Health
• Clinton Health Access Initiative

Background: Community health worker (CHW) programmes contribute towards strengthening adherence support, improving maternal and child health outcomes and providing support for social services. They play a valuable role in health behaviour change in vulnerable communities. Large-scale, comprehensive CHW programmes at health district level are part...

BACKGROUND: Community health worker (CHW) programmes contribute towards strengthening adherence support, improving maternal and child health outcomes and providing support for social services. They play a valuable role in health behaviour change in vulnerable communities. Large-scale, comprehensive CHW programmes at health district level are part o...

Objectives: Globally, there have been significant changes in utilisation of STI testing and treatment services during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 in countries that use syndromic STI management is not documented. This study used routine STI surveillance data to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on utilisation of STI sy...

Background Tuberculosis remains an important clinical and public health issue in South Africa, which has one of the highest tuberculosis burdens in the world. We aimed to estimate the burden of bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis among people aged 15 years or older in South Africa. Methods This multistage, cluster-based, cross-secti...

The climate crisis will worsen already high rates of maternal and newborn mortality and adverse birth outcomes, exacerbating existing inequities between and within countries. Governments should consider beginning plans for responses now, engaging with partners such as national and international non-governmental organizations, local civil society gr...

Introduction South Africa is an upper middle-income country with wide wealth inequality. It faces a quadruple burden of disease and poor health outcomes, with access to appropriate and adequate health care a challenge for millions of South Africans. The introduction of large-scale, comprehensive community health worker (CHW) programs in the country...

Background Malaria continues to be a public health problem in South Africa. While the disease is mainly confined to three of the nine provinces, most local transmissions occur because of importation of cases from neighboring countries. The government of South Africa has reiterated its commitment to eliminate malaria within its borders. To support t...

With decades of experience implementing STI and HIV programmes globally what do we know and what are we still learning? Implementation science is a relatively new approach to understanding what facilitates rapid implementation and the barriers to implementation.With a rising tide of some STIs and need to eliminate HIV as a public health threat, thi...

Introduction: Until COVID-19, tuberculosis (TB) was the leading infectious disease killer globally, disproportionally affecting people with HIV. The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening the gains made in the fight against both diseases. Discussion: Although crucial guidance has been released on how to maintain TB and HIV services during the pandemic,...

Low incidence rates of malaria (<1/1000 population at risk) in South Africa led the World Health Organization to recommend that the country pursue malaria elimination (zero local cases). The first elimination strategy published in 2012, targeted elimination by 2018. Unfortunately, this goal was not realised. This paper explores the challenges faced...

Background: Reflecting on progress and challenges in meeting global human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) targets is often done ahead of World AIDS Day. This article reflects on progress and the continuing challenges in meeting targets in South Africa (SA). Objective: To review policy and implementation related progress and continuing challenges towa...

Introduction Community health worker teams are potential game-changers in ensuring access to care in vulnerable communities. Who are they? What do they actually do? Can they help South Africa realize universal health coverage? As the proactive arm of the health services, community health workers teams provide household and community education, earl...

We are committed to an AIDS free generation by 2030 – nine short years away. This article reflects on the global and South African data on new infections, total number of children and adolescents living with HIV as well as data on vertical transmission. The article includes the voices of key stakeholders in the quest to end HIV in children so that...

Objectives To investigate if the implementation of the 2016 WHO Recommendations for a Positive Pregnancy Experience reduced perinatal mortality in a South African province. The recommendations were implemented which included increasing the number of contacts and also the content of the contacts. Methods Retrospective interrupted time-series analys...

Introduction: Municipal Ward based PHC Outreach Teams are potential game-changers in ensuring access to care in vulnerable communities. Who are they? What do they actually do? Can they help South Africa realize universal health coverage? Methods: Descriptive secondary data analysis of team activities in the Ekurhuleni health district, South Africa...

Introduction: Community health worker teams are potential game-changers in ensuring access to care in vulnerable communities. Who are they? What do they actually do? Can they help South Africa realize universal health coverage? As the proactive arm of the health services, community health workers teams provide household and community education, ear...

Background South Africa is an upper middle-income country, but has one of the widest GINI co-efficients in the world. It faces a heavy burden of disease and poor health outcomes remain a challenge for millions of South Africans. Slow economic growth, rapid urbanization and high unemployment could de-rail the efforts to improve access to health care...

Background: In 2013, a pregnancy exposure registry and birth defects surveillance (PER/BDS) system was initiated in eThekwini District, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), to assess the impact of antiretroviral treatment (ART) on birth outcomes. Objectives: At the end of the first year, we assessed the risk of major congenital malformations (CM) and other advers...

Background: The institutional maternal mortality ratio (iMMR) in South Africa (SA) is still unacceptably high. A key recommendation from the National Committee on Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths has been to improve the availability and quality of care for women suffering obstetric emergencies. Objectives: To determine whether there w...

Background: Poor emergency obstetric care has been shown by national confidential enquiries into maternal deaths to contribute to a number of maternal deaths in South Africa. Objectives: To assess whether a structured training course can improve knowledge and skills and whether this can influence the capacity of a healthcare facility to provide...

Background: In April 2014, a national school-based human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program was rolled out in South Africa, targeting Grade 4 girls aged ≥9 years. A bivalent HPV vaccine with a 2-dose (6 months apart) schedule was used. At the request of the National Department of Health (NDoH), we conducted an external assessment of the firs...

A new first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen containing dolutegravir is being rolled out in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). In studies from predominantly high-income settings, dolutegravir-based regimens had superior efficacy, tolerability, and durability compared with existing first-line regimens. However, several question...

Background: South Africa (SA) is in the process of implementing National Health Insurance (NHI), which will require co-ordination of health provision across sectors and levels of care. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are tools for standardising and implementing care, and are intended to influence clinical decision-making with consequences for...

Background. South Africa (SA) is in the process of implementing National Health Insurance (NHI), which will require co-ordination of health provision across sectors and levels of care. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are tools for standardising and implementing care, and are intended to influence clinical decision-making with consequences for p...

Background: While tuberculosis incidence and mortality are declining in South Africa, meeting the goals of the End TB Strategy requires an invigorated programmatic response informed by accurate data. Enumerating the losses at each step in the care cascade enables appropriate targeting of interventions and resources. Methods: We estimated the tub...