Trials show antiretroviral therapy can benefit the poor

[Guest guest]

SOUTH AFRICA: Trials show antiretroviral therapy can

benefit the poor.

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According to a 'Sunday Independent' report, clinical

trials conducted in Johannesburg and Cape Town have

shown that despite poverty and scarce clinical

resources, antiretrovirals can be used successfully

by poor people. These findings come after the

government's repeated refusal to offer

antiretroviral therapy to all saying the majority of

South Africans were poor and would misuse the drugs.

Speaking to IRIN on Wednesday, Dr Ian Sanne of the

Clinical HIV Trials Unit of the University of

Witwatersrand, said that most of the people involved

in the trials were " the poorest of the poor "

travelling from squatter camps into urban centres.

They were from often unemployed or from a low income

background and represented the majority of the

population. The trials were carried out from 1998 to

2001 in " resource-poor settings from three academic

trial units " with 763 participants. Strong side

effects of the drugs were marginal, of the 14 deaths

reported, 3 were drug related. IRIN obtained a

report on the trials which stated that, " overall it

is possible to successfully treat patients from

resource-poor settings with antiretroviral therapy " .

Sanne said that with the use of an Internet-based

patient monitoring system along with the " Right to

Care " programme, the implementation of HIV/AIDS

treatment in the poorest areas of the country could

now be accelerated. The " Right to Care " programme

will provide Web-based patient diagnostics,

treatment and care in primary health care clinics.

The project is spearheaded by Sanne and he is

collaborating with mining company Anglo American,

which will be the first company to implement it.

The Department of Health responded to the results

of the trials by maintaining that government would

not shift from its policy on antiretrovirals.

Department of Health spokesman Sibani Mngadi told

IRIN that more had to be done before the government

could consider providing antiretrovirals " across the

board " . He added that problems of capacity needed to

be adressed and a proper infrastructure had to be

set in place before antiretrovirals would be made

available to the poor.

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ACT UP Philadelphia

Health GAP Coalition

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A cross posting from pwha-net@...