AEGiS-Glasgow [PL3.1] New challenges of providing HAART: lessons from the frontline

Eighth International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection

Glasgow, UK - 12-16 November 2006

[PL3.1] New challenges of providing HAART: lessons from the frontline

Int Cong Drug Therapy HIV 2006 Nov 12-16;8:Abstract No. PL3.1

Elly T Katabira
Makerere Medical School, Kampala, Uganda

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: By the end of 2005, UNAIDS estimated that there were about 40 million people worldwide who were HIV infected. Two-thirds of these were in sub-Saharan Africa and 1.5 million from Uganda alone. In spite of the large numbers of HIV-infected people, the use of antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings was not considered a viable option until a few years ago. With the establishment of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), programs specifically targeting the provision of ART, there has been renewed hope of improved survival and quality of life among the majority of HIV-infected people.

CHALLENGES: As HIV-infected people from resource-limited settings rush to make use of the available opportunities for better care with ART, there are numerous challenges ahead for both the patients and their ART providers. These include health delivery systems with recurrent shortages of financial and human resources that make it very difficult for them to provide acceptable quality ART services. There are fewer health care workers knowledgeable in the use of ART and even these do not stay in place long before they move on to new opportunities. Diagnostic facilities that would support proper management of patients on ART are poorly equipped with machinery, human resources and reagents. Even where patients on ART have been found adherent to their regimens, very often they are let down by inadequate logistics such as delayed drug supplies.

CONCLUSION: Providing ART in resource-limited settings requires a dedicated and robust team of health professionals, administrators and community leaders. Team members should be flexible and highly innovative. They should be able to work with their patients more closely and support each other at all times in order to realise the rewards of ART that have been seen in the developed world.

Plenary Session: New Challenges in Providing ART [IAS Session]

2006-11-12
PL3.1

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