Anova Health Institute is a donor funded organization established in 2009, building on early work that transformed South Africa’s HIV response, including prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, paediatric HIV care, and pioneering affirming services for LGBTQ+ communities through initiatives like Health4Men and the Ivan Toms Centre for Men’s Health in Cape Town.

Since then, we’ve grown into one of South Africa’s largest public health implementing and development partners, with a focus on HIV/TB, Maternal and Child Health, Adolescent and Youth Health services, Mental Health, and Health System Strengthening.

In 2018, with the inception of the USAID/PEPFAR funded HIV care and treatment programme, APACE (Accelerating Program Achievements to Control the Epidemic), Anova’s footprint expanded from two to five districts, and our staff complement increased from 500 to more than 4,000 by 2020. During that time, we delivered HIV and TB services across multiple provinces, while also supporting the country’s COVID-19 response. The experience helped sharpen our governance and operations, strengthen technical systems, and reinforce our commitment to responsive, client-centred care. In 2024, Anova supported more than 990,000 people on HIV treatment, representing nearly a quarter of all people living with HIV (PLHIV) and on treatment in South Africa.

Our programmes have spanned five South African provinces – Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Western Cape. While most of our work is domestic, we have also contributed to global health efforts through the EQUIP consortium, supporting HIV programmes in Namibia, Zambia, and Haiti.

Our work has always been rooted in partnership with the public sector. We support the Department of Health at all levels; from national policy translation to district-level mentorship to direct facility implementation. Our teams help improve data use, strengthen supply chain systems, build health worker capacity, and support client flow and retention in care. We engage directly with local communities through outreach, peer mobilisation, education campaigns, and psychosocial support.

Anova’s purpose is simple: to make public health work better, both for the people delivering it and the people depending on it. Our work is guided by our values of Excellence, Trust, People, Innovation, and Expertise.

Following the global disruption to public health funding in 2025, Anova has regrouped and rebuilt. Even as we operate at a smaller scale today, our commitment remains unchanged. We continue to improve health outcomes and equity in the communities we serve — one clinic, one client, one system at a time.