Our Work
Maternal & Child Health
Pioneering care for mothers, infants, and children — from prevention to long-term support
A Lifelong Commitment to Mothers and Children
Anova was founded with a clear commitment to the health of mothers and children. Some of our earliest programmes focused on preventing vertical transmission — ensuring that HIV is not passed from the mother to the child during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding. Between 2009 and 2015, South Africa reduced the HIV infection rate among infants born to mothers living with HIV from 8% to just 1.5%. Anova’s early efforts were a pivotal part of that national success.
Since then, we’ve continued to lead in maternal and child health innovation — piloting and scaling postnatal clubs and Family Care Days that bring together children, caregivers, and healthcare providers. These models ensure HIV-exposed infants complete their testing schedules, mothers remain in care, and families receive holistic, coordinated support rather than fragmented services.
What We Do
Integrated Antenatal & Postnatal Care
We strengthen both HIV prevention and treatment in antenatal care. For women who are HIV-negative but at risk, we’ve helped integrate oral PrEP into routine services — reducing the chances of acquiring HIV during pregnancy or breastfeeding, when the risk of transmission is highest. For women living with HIV, we support maternal viral load monitoring, use of newer and easy to take ARVs, and adherence counselling to keep both mother and baby healthy.
Expanding Paediatric HIV Services
Anova has helped drive improvements in diagnosis, treatment, and long-term support for children. Our teams have:
- Trained nurses in use and provision of newer and easy to take paediatric ARV regimens, expanded caregiver adherence support, and used phlebotomy training and data to improve paediatric viral load testing coverage.
- Strengthened early infant diagnosis and follow-up, ensuring exposed babies are re-tested at set intervals until their second birthday.
- Designed, validated, and rolled out the national paediatric HIV screening tool to identify HIV infected children not yet on treatment.
Holistic Family & Community Support
Recognising that families need more than clinical care alone, we work closely with community-based organisations to connect children and caregivers to psychosocial support, educational referrals, nutrition services, and birth registration assistance — building a comprehensive network of support. This work has been made possible through long-standing partnerships with funders such as ELMA Philanthropies, among others committed to maternal and child health equity.
Spotlight
Family Free with Orange Babies
In Mopani District, Limpopo, Anova implemented the Family Free programme with support from Orange Babies Netherlands. This long-running initiative provides healthcare and psychosocial support for children living with HIV — including monthly clinic clubs where children collect medication, receive age-appropriate health education, and build supportive peer relationships.
Family Free also focuses on prevention, offering health education, counselling, and continuous follow-up for mothers and adolescents. By linking HIV services with child development support, it reflects Anova’s deep commitment to whole-family care — rooted in compassion, evidence, and long-term impact.