HIV Treatment in South Africa, Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has turned HIV into a manageable chronic condition. When ART is working effectively, HIV cannot be transmitted.
This allows people with HIV to live fuller lives without the fear of infecting others. It’s also led global HIV control efforts to focus on increasing ART coverage. HIV Treatment in South Africa, The aim is to improve the health of people living with HIV, and to decrease and eventually halt the spread of the virus. UNAIDS set 90-90-90 targets to measure global progress by 2020: 90% of people with HIV know their status, 90% of those with a known status are on treatment, and 90% of those on treatment are virally suppressed (a blood test result that means ART is working effectively). These targets have now been increased to 95-95-95, to be reached by 2030. South Africa has achieved the first 90 target but it falls short on the second 90. Despite having more than 5.5 million people on treatment, only 75% of those with a known status are on ART.
Poor retention in health services is one of the most important reasons for this. People living with HIV need to be on ART for their whole lives. HIV Treatment in South Africa, This is a tough ask, and although the pills are available free of charge in public health institutions, many people interrupt treatment. Modelling and programme data suggest that the number of people re-initiating ART is as high as, or higher than, the number of people starting treatment for the first time. Interrupting treatment is a problem for two reasons. First, people who aren’t on treatment are likely to become sick and die. Second, without consistent treatment HIV can be transmitted, leading to additional infections. At Anova Health Institute we support the Department of Health in providing HIV services in five districts of South Africa. In a recent study, we wanted to know more about why people with HIV interrupt and return to treatment, and how we can support them to stay in care.
Source: This news is originally published by allafrica