Key opportunities for ward-based outreach teams in South Africa’s human immunodeficiency virus programme

Ward-based outreach teams (WBOTs) are becoming an increasingly important part of primary healthcare (PHC) in resource-constrained rural settings across the globe.1 In addition to district clinical specialist teams and integrated school health services, WBOTs are one of the three components of the PHC re-engineering programme introduced in South Africa in 2012 to improve communities’ access to health services and the quality of care provided.2 In South Africa, each WBOT is linked to a PHC facility and consists of a team leader, usually a professional nurse, plus five or more community health workers (CHWs). Each CHW is allocated 250–400 households to support.3