Treating AIDS patients at the heart of the problem
With approximately 5.3 million people infected with HIV, South Africa
has the highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS of any country.
In November 2003, the South African government approved a new
national HIV/AIDS plan that added life-extending antiretroviral (ARV)
therapy to the existing protocol and set a goal of treating 600,000
people with ARVs by 2008.
The government's revised HIV policy
marked the start of an intensive effort to
broaden the use of ARVs in Khayelitsha
township, in the Western Cape province.
MSF runs three HIV/AIDS clinics within primary
health care centers in Khayelitsha.
These clinics provide prevention information,
HIV testing, counseling and management
of opportunistic infections, as well as
ARV treatment to people at advanced stages
of AIDS. By July 2004, clinic doctors and
nurses were conducting 150 to 200 medical
consultations per day and providing
ARVs to nearly 1,200 people. MSF's aim is
for 2,000 people to be receiving ARVs by
the end of 2004.
In collaboration with the Nelson Mandela
Foundation, MSF operates a second rural
HIV/AIDS program in Lusikisiki, in the
Eastern Cape province, one of the country's
poorest areas. The program has tested
more than 600 people for the virus each
month and has demonstrated an HIV-positive
prevalence of 30 to 40 percent. MSF
manages opportunistic infections in 11
rural clinics and in the district hospital and began offering ARV treatment in the clinics
in November 2003.
In October 2003, MSF opened the Simelela
Rape Survivors Center in Khayelitsha. The
center offers medical and psychosocial
care, including post-exposure prophylaxis
to prevent HIV transmission, and trauma
counseling. The center's staff conducts 25
to 35 consultations per month. More than
half of the rape survivors treated are children
younger than 14 years of age.
MSF continues to work in partnership with
the Treatment Action Campaign to advocate
for increased access to treatment.
Together, the two groups support patients'
adherence to treatment and community
education about treatment options, promote
the use of fixed-dose combinations
of ARVs and monitor the impact on health
of southern Africa's free trade negotiations
with the United States.
MSF first worked in South Africa in the mid-1980s and returned in 1999 to respond to
the needs of people affected by HIV/AIDS.
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