LILONGWE, 19 March 2010 (PLUSNEWS) - Malawi's government has set itself a major challenge this year, announcing plans to more than double the number of people receiving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to half a million by the end of 2010. Read more:http://www.plusnews.org
SOUTH AFRICA: HIV testing and mental illness
JOHANNESBURG, 17 March 2010 (PLUSNEWS) - As more HIV-positive people access treatment and live longer, the number of people suffering from HIV-related mental disorders is growing, but mental health remains an ethical, legal and clinical minefield, where many doctors and nurses fear to tread - and fear to test.
"We're moving away from seeing patients on their death beds towards patients who are living longer, and are being affected by mental disorders that have real impacts on their life and work," said Dr Greg Jonsson, a psychiatrist at the Luthando Psychiatric HIV Clinic at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, in Johannesburg. Read further : http://www.plusnews.org/
NAIROBI, 10 March 2010 (PLUSNEWS) Violet Tinah, 40, a resident of Korogocho slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, is living with HIV and was recently diagnosed with tuberculosis, but her biggest problem today is not disease - but hunger.
"When I went for the results that informed me that I had TB, I was very hungry; I'd had no breakfast and lunch and could barely walk," she told IRIN/PlusNews. "I had to be supported and put in a wheelchair to collect the drugs.
"Often I go without food and during such times I feel dizzy and nauseous after swallowing the [TB and HIV] drugs," the formerly prosperous carpenter added. "Putting food on the table is like a dream." http://www.plusnews.org
NAIROBI, 9 March 2010 (PLUSNEWS)
Global funding shortfalls for fighting AIDS could make it impossible for developing countries to implement new World Health Organization treatment guidelines, activists have said.
WHO released new guidelines on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in December 2009, raising the CD4 count - a measure of immune strength - at which HIV-positive people should start ART from 200 to 350. Research has shown that starting ART earlier reduces the rate of death and opportunistic disease. PLUS NEWS: www.plusnews.org
Achieving targets to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and halve tuberculosis rates hang in the balance as donor commitments to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Fund come up for review. full report
"JOHANNESBURG, 16 February 2010 (PLUSNEWS) - New national treatment guidelines are set to make the world's largest antiretroviral (ARV) programme even bigger as South Africa extends treatment to more HIV-positive infants, pregnant women and people battling HIV-tuberculosis (TB) co-infection.
Dr Nono Simelela, CEO of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), confirmed that the revised guidelines were in the final stages of editing and would go to print in a few days; implementation is scheduled to begin on 1 April 2010.
Major changes to the guidelines include providing ARVs to all HIV-positive infants less than one year old regardless of their CD4 count - which measures immune system strength - without having an expensive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that is not widely available at clinics to confirm their HIV status.
Pregnant HIV-positive women will be able to start treatment at a new, higher CD4 count of 350, as will all TB/HIV co-infected patients, rather than having to wait until their CD4 counts fell to 200 or below as was previously the case. TB remains the leading cause of death among people living with HIV.
The shifts in treatment could significantly reduce infant and maternal mortality due to HIV, and lower the rate of new infections. "Although the cost implications are huge, the treasury has already committed the additional resources to cover the expansion and we also have support from PEPFAR [US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief]," Simelela told IRIN/PlusNews.
South Africa has lagged behind most countries in the region in adopting a CD4 count of 350 as the threshold for starting treatment to all those living with HIV and many activists said they had hoped the revised guidelines would bring South Africa in line with this international standard.
However, indications are that the new, revised CD4 threasholds of 350 will apply only to infants younger than one year, HIV-positive pregnant women, and people co-infected with TB/HIV, and will not be universally extended.
The country's nine provinces have begun drafting plans to implement the guideline revisions - the first in about five years - that are the result of strong lobbying by both SANAC and civil society, some of whom expected new guidelines to be released much sooner.
Simelela said the guidelines were delayed for a number of reasons, including capacity constraints and the need to reconcile competing views on treatment within the HIV and AIDS sector.
"Protracted processes [were undertaken] to achieve consensus on some of the regimens," she said. "A tricky balance had to be struck between the top-range [drug] regimens, which are costly, versus some regimens that are cheaper but have more side effects."
According to media reports, the guidelines indicate that the ARV stavudine, associated with an increased number of side effects in many patients, could be phased out and replaced by tenofovir. "
(See above link for source of article)
RETIRED EC NURSES RETURN TO DUTY - SIYAKHANA PROJECT
The privately owned Siyakhana Health Trust , which provides HIV/AIDS related services to clinics in the Buffalo City area, has recalled a number of retired nurses to assist with their programme. These nurses are part of Siyakhana's Capacity Building Project, launched in September 2008 to enable public sector clinics to routinely offer HIV testing and to enable young staff to learn from veteran nurses.
"Siyakhana was formed four years ago by Mercedes Benz South Africa, the German development agency DEG and the Border-Kei Chamber of Business to assist small and medium businesses manage the impact of HIV/AIDS on their employees and operations. The project has additional funding from the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief and BroadReach Healthcare."
OTHER RECENT REPORTS IN THE DAILY DISPATCH
Headline : Extra sites, more patients for ARV's - Most TB hospitals serve dual purpose
'The provincial Department of Health has plans to increase the number of people on anti-retrovirals by 40 000 within this financial year.
At the moment there are about 73 000 people on ARV's in the Eastern Cape. By March 2010 ... the number will be increased to 110 000. ....... The aim of ARV's is to keep the viral load of HIV in a patient's body at a low level to stop further weakening of the patient's immune system and allow it to recover from any damage the HIV ight have caused already. .................... The plans also include accrediting more sites providing treatment from 77 to 87 during the same period. ................. According to Diliza, the department would be sticking to initiating people onto treatment from the 200 CD4 cell count downwards, as spelt out in the national guidelines. But this is not cast in stone. If the need arises a person can be initiatied into treatment sooner...... The department was also looking at strengthening the management of dual treatment for TB patients with HIV within TB hospitals, Diliza said. Most of the 10 TB hospitals in the province have already been addredited and patients admitted to these facilities could be identified and initiated onto ARV'S while being given their TB medication.'