Report Highlights African Anti-Retroviral Drug Issues
A new survey highlights how over a third of HIV patients in the lower regions of Africa, who are taking anti-retroviral drugs, either die or stop taking their medication within 24 months of first starting it. The study discovered that, in many instances, the drugs were being taken too late in the day to be effective, while another factor was distance - with some clinics located too far away to be reached. Evidence was also gathered that indicated a tendency to cease taking anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs where payment for them was required. However, the results were varied, according to the particular country in question.
The study was undertaken by the Boston University School of Public Health, and subsequently published on the Public Library of Science's website. In all, 13 countries located south of the Sahara were assessed in respect of the anti-retroviral drug programmes in place. The researchers identified that, two years after treatment first began, a mere 61.6 per cent of HIV patients were still in receipt of ARVs.
According to the university's Dr Christopher Gill, other more important issues in the lives of Sub-Saharans could be pushing ARVs to the back shelf. "Receiving the drug itself is a major investment of a patient's time, so if you live 8 km from the nearest clinic and have to go there once a month and you don't have a ready means of transport it's a huge investment of your own time", he said, in conversation with the BBC.
Dr Gill added: "And if you're feeling well and you're worried about other things in terms of finding enough to eat or maintaining a job...you might be tempted to see treatment as being a second-order priority"
As far Roland Gomol Lenya - the Association of People with Aids in Kenya's director - is concerned, the situation is exacerbated by limited education and other factors. "If people are not well educated on how to take the drugs, then some patients fall out, and if they do fall out then they develop resistance", he stated, again to the BBC, adding: "We find some people also suffer from stigma: in some workplaces, people are not able to carry their ARVs and take their ARVs freely at workplaces"
"I think there are also the issues of poverty, and the people who administer ARVs should also look at the poverty element, because sometimes because of poverty people are not able to access the centres. The centres are normally far away from where people live, and that has been a problem."
Geographic location was seen to be a major factor in respect of the number of Africans continuing with their ARV drug programmes after the two-year period had expired. In one, unspecified area, 85 per cent of patients were still taking them, while, by way of contrast, a Ugandan programme kept just 46 per cent.
Source - Pharmaceutical International's African Correspondent
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