Staff Reporter
The Free State health department is worried some people taking antiretroviral and tuberculosis drugs could have defaulted on their treatment during the national lockdown put in place to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Health MEC Montseng Tsiu said this during a provincial commemoration event for World Aids Day in Tumahole, Parys, on Tuesday.
“We would like to call on patients who have interrupted their treatment for both HIV and TB to present themselves at their local clinics to ensure that they are re-started on the ARV and TB treatment,” said Tsiu.
The hard lockdown which was in place for several months starting late March forced people to stay home and most sectors of the economy were shut down.
While health facilities remained open, some chose to stay home for fear of contracting COVID-19, resulting in them defaulting on their treatment.
“The province is working hard to ensure that linkage to care is strengthened and that people who have tested HIV positive are initiated on treatment,” she added.
The MEC said the Free State has made significant strides to meet the triple 90 targets to ensure more people know their status and are put on medication and would not want that to be derailed by the COVID-19 lockdown.
She said defaulting on HIV or TB treatment, among others, could actually worsen the effect of the pandemic because people with comorbidities become more vulnerable.
According to Tsiu, at least 91 percent of people living with HIV and Aids in the province now know their status.
About 83 percent of those who know their HIV status have started taking antiretrovirals.
And 90 percent of those taking the drugs are virally suppressed, meaning the virus cannot be detected although still present in the body.
“Among some of the gains with regards to HIV prevention in the province . . . a total of 342 277 HIV tests were done from April to October 2020, about 12 040 people were initiated on treatment from April to October, a total of 285 757clients remained on ARV treatment as at end of October 2020 and about 25.5 million condoms were distributed (during that period),” said the MEC.
The Free State started implementing the TLD (Tenovofir, Lamivudine and Dolutegravir) as first-line treatment from January 2020.
This new combination of ARVs is said to have less side-effects, a very good resistance barrier, more affordable and does not interfere with contraceptives.
The TLD is available at all public healthcare facilities in the province.
Patients with a viral load of less than 50 copies per millilitre of blood can be eligible for the new combination ARV.
World Aids Day is commemorated to unite communities in the fight against HIV and Aids, show support to people living with the disease and to destigmatise it and salute those who have succumbed to it.
This year the day was marked under the theme “We’re in this Together, Cheka Impilo”.