Case Study: North Star Alliance achieves optimal clinic placement and expands HIV/AIDS care to 280,000+ people across 13 African countries with AIMMS

North Star Alliance leverages AIMMS to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa

North Star Alliance delivers primary and public health services from converted shipping containers (“Blue Box” clinics) to hard‑to‑reach populations across Africa, focusing on high‑risk mobile groups such as long‑distance truck drivers. With HIV/AIDS heavily concentrated in Sub‑Saharan Africa and a rapidly growing clinic network, North Star needed an efficient, data‑driven way to choose optimal clinic sites and appropriate staffing to maximize access and ensure continuity of care along transport corridors.

ORTEC built POLARIS on the AIMMS optimization platform to combine traffic flows, border wait times and COMETS data to balance maximum driver access with a continuum of care for ongoing treatment. The system removed much of the time and expense of manual analysis, enabled optimal siting and staffing decisions, and helped expand North Star’s network to reach over 280,000 people in 13 countries each year.

North Star Alliance

Luke Disney

Executive Director, North Star Alliance