Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is the Department of Health not supplying ARVs to all HIV / AIDS patients in SA?
A: The DoH has a National Strategic Plan (NSP 2007-2011) in which they
outline policies and programs as to how they intend to contain this
epidemic. The roll-out of ARVs however, has been much slower than had
been anticipated.
The practical situation is that in this area ARVs have only become
available in the nearest district hospital, in Alice, at the beginning
of 2009. None of the local primary health clinics in the Tyhume valley
are accredited to handle any ARVs.
Transport from home to point of service is often too costly to make
it feasible or practically viable on an ongoing basis for as long as the
patient is alive.
Q: Who pays for the laboratory tests on these patients?
A: Pathcare in East London has an agreement with Ikhwezi (NPO in East London), to do the initial Pre-HAART tests as well as all the follow-up monitoring of blood tests at a special rate. Ikhwezi is funded by ICAP (International Centre for AIDS Program). HIV Hope Project is working under the auspices of Ikhwezi.
Q: Is there a limit to how many patients you can handle?
A: Theoretically spoken we have reached our limit with the available staff which forms the team. If more patients need to be treated, it will require more clinical staff.
Q: How do you decide when to start patients on ARVs?
A: We follow the National Guidelines in combination with the Guidelines of the SA HIV Clinician’s Association. These are guidelines, which should be used as such to guide one, in combination with each patients’ clinical situation. The CD4 count of a patient is one of the most critical indicators for treatment (< 350 cells/ml).
Q: How long should a patient remain on ARVs?
A: Once a patient starts his/her ARVs regime, they must be committed to life-long treatment. There is no cure at this stage, but the life expectancy of patients on ARVs can be up to 49 years after the introduction of ARV, provided that there is absolute adherence to the treatment plan (The Lancet, 26/07/2008). This is an increase of 37% in comparison to when ARVs were initially started.
Q: Do you need more people to assist you?
A: We could certainly do with more clinical staff.
Q: What are your biggest challenges at present?
A: We face four major challenges
- Dealing with multiple losses / grieving of both the family members of patients, as well as the clinical staff
- Funding
- Staffing when the program expands
- Adherence to treatment regimes.
Q: World-wide, are we winning the battle against HIV/AIDS?
A: UNAIDS, the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS reports the following:
- Every day, 7 400 people become infected with HIV.
- Currently there are 9.7 million people still in need of ARVs, while about 4 million people are currently receiving treatment.
- The virus infects 5 more people for every 2 people receiving the treatment.
- Universal access will allow about 6.7 million people to receive life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, prevent 2.6 million new infections and save 1.3 million lives.
- Source: http://www.unaids.org/en/CountryResponses/UniversalAccess/default.asp