About us
Highveld East Aids Project Support (HEAPS) is an entity that was formed in 2001 by Sasol Corporate Affairs, Office of the Mayor in Govan Mbeki Municipality, Evander Gold Mine and Govan Mbeki Civil Society Organizations to establish a coordinated structure for HIV and Aids Prevention in the municipality to address the uncoordinated manner wherein local CBO’s were requesting funds from Sasol to provide Home-Based Care services in the municipality during the devasting period of HIV epidemic.
HEAPS’ role was to receive funding on of CBO’s, distribute the funds, receive and submit evidence-based outcomes consolidated reports, account for the funds and submit Audited Financial Statements to the donors. HEAPS was part of Mentorship Resources Network together with NACOSA, St Barnabas Trust, Aids Consortium and Seboka NPO’s funded by the Netherlands Embassy from 2007 – 2009 to implement the Mentorship Program to community- based organizations (CBO’s) in all 9 provinces in the country.
Since 2010, HEAPS has been providing HTS services in Mpumalanga, Free State and Gauteng provinces in the following key programs Peer Education, Palliative Care Services, Counselling and Testing Services, HIV/AIDS Treatment Adherence, Lay Counsellors Stipend Administration for 89 Health Facilities in Gert Sibande district. HIV Prevention for Adolescent Girls and Young Women and Adolescents Boys and Young Men (AGYW/ABYM).
HEAPS was introduced by Aids Foundation of South Africa (AFSA) to evidence-based HIV prevention strategies and scale up tools for monitoring and evaluation systems. The organization is one of the recognized stakeholders in the fight against HIV/AIDS and TB interventions in the district, Provincial and National Department of Health. The organization is a local implementing partner with knowledge of the areas we are working on and we provide community empowerment by utilizing skilled people within the local area when recruiting staff for employment. The organization has professional staff who were previously employed by the Department of Health at Govan Mbeki municipality, they have experience and access in working in all the health facilities.
We have HTS Counsellors who are stationed in the Health facilities for PReP demand creation, HIV testing and refer for initiation process immediately, key personnel have vehicles 24hrs to ensure that every client’s needs are catered for. The organization ensures adequate procurement of program working tools on consistent basis e.g. PEP, Health packs. Our data capturing teams are knowledgeable on using MyHope system for capturing purposes. We also have dedicated teams who are working tirelessly, working overtime and even on weekends to ensure that targets are reached. HTS statistics are submitted are submitted to the nearest facilities where we render our testing services on a daily basis to be captured on Tier.net system.