The dataset contains core data on HIV patients who were eligible for fast-track treatment initiation counselling (FTIC) in the Adherence Guidelines evaluation of the South Africa Department of Health and The World Bank. This evaluation's purpose was to assess the effectiveness of five interventions recommended by the Adherence Guidelines by looking at short-term and final outcome results. This data set includes data from the fast-track treatment initiation counselling intervention. The objective was to determine if fast-track treatment initiation counselling improved treatment initiation one month after eligibility, and viral suppression during patient follow-up. There were 12 intervention clinics and 12 control clinics providing the prevailing standard of care. The patients were enrolled from routine data bases into the evaluation without patient contact. The patient-level data include the enrolment clinic, intervention arm, age group, and whether the patient had a diagnosis of tuberculosis at cohort enrolment. The datafile also provides the short-term and final outcome data for the evaluation of FTIC effectiveness. The datafile supports an academic publication on the evaluation.