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HIV/Aids spread on rise despite ARVs
2006-12-19 08:22:58
By Godfrey Monyo
With a population of 33 million people, among which more than 12 per cent are between 15 - 49 (sexually mature), Tanzania has 208 per cent annual increase of HIV/Aids spread despite the wide spread use of ARVs.
Since the first three AIDS cases were reported in 1983, the spread of HIV/Aids has been gaining momentum with each passing day.
Currently it is estimated that approximately 2 million people are infected with HIV and many have died of HIV/Aids related diseases.
The Tanzanian government, in a struggle to attain sustainable development has been struggling to lessen the spread of the virus.
The HIV/Aids pandemic is not only a grave socio-economic and cultural issue but also a developmental calling for new and concerted efforts and initiatives from developed and developing countries.
Like in many countries, Tanzania has been undertaking the care treatment and support for living with HIV/Aids.
This has been done by both government and non governmental organizations; despite all these the pace of HIV/Aids increase is gaining momentum.
This is mainly because most of the organizations are not effective; many are profit oriented.
To lengthen the lives of infected people the government adopted ARVs.
This therapy only increases the life span of the infected people. There has been a controversy about ARV\’s in the community.
Some claim that when they use them they experience an array of after effects, while there is word to the effect that they make some people even die earlier.
One of the local magazines in the country recently reported that some of the users of the therapy, \”Mostly the users of stavudine which is a fixed dose combinatiion, lamivu dine and nevirapine complain of serious side effects and the drugs sometimes cause death.
The magazine adds that the EMLA dosage made by Emeure Pharmaceuticals Limited in India is the most dangerous on this score.
Due to the reported story, the writer of this article decided to communicate with the Assistant Director of the National Centre for Advice and Cure, Ms Rose Sonathan Marwa, who explained that, according to many experiments they did, they found that the claims was not true.
\”Stavudine lengthens the lives of the people infected with HIV/Aids, it does not cure the disease.
It reduces the reproductivity of the viruses with in the body, and guides the immunity of the body\”, Rose said.
There is no scientific proof that stavudine and Entri, have failed to help the users if administered accordingly. The only truth is that like many other drugs, ARVs have side effects, and when such effects emerge the users are advised to visit the respective clinics for advice and treatment.
Dr Henry one of the researchers, dealing with HIV/Aids matters, says in one of his researches that among 849 patients involved in the research -- six month research -- 14 (106 per cent) got affected (lactic aciclosis), while among the number, 3 (004 per cent) died.
This figure indicates that a few people got side effects from ARVs.
Dr Theopisther Kabuteni, from the World Health Organisation (WHO) claims there is no scientific proof that ARVs cause serious effects to the users.
He adds that ARVs users have to be serious and self motivated as many of the emanating problems are caused by them.
He also says clinicians also need to be well equipped and acknowledged some of the outcomes.
\”Someone decides to take a dose to day, tomorrow he/she goes to the church or to a herbalists and stops taking it,\” says Ms Mpendwa Abinery Chihimba, the Chairperson of National Network of Tanzanian Women with HIV/Aids.
Ms Mpendwa is one of specialists and users of ARVs. She was infected with HIV/Aids 15 years ago and she claims to have been helped so much by ARVs.
On some of the common problems causing side effects, she says most of the users do not start the dose at the right time as ARVs are not applicable for every person infected with HIV/Aids.
\”You may be infected with HIV/Aids but still have high CD 4s hence such patients need to visit clinics regularly on when to start the dose.
Therefore, if the dose is taken earlier or late it may result into serious effects,\” she says.
She also mentions lack of proper timing of taking the dose as one of the problems as most of the patients do not have proper timetables for doing so.
According to observation, the other major problem is the religious factor combined with witchcraft which make some of the patients abandon the drugs which they are supposed to take for their lifetimes.
These are patients which face most of the said problems with the drugs.
To do away with these problems, WHO has developed the Integrated Management of Adolescent and Adult Illness (IMAI) approach to scale up a comprehensive HIV/Aids care, treatment and prevention within the framework of existing health systems.
This public health approach is based on the principles of standardization, decentralisation and integration, and covers the whole range of HIV/Aids-related treatment issues, ranging from clinical staging, to treatment of acute conditions and opportunistic infections, to anti-retroviral treatment and palliative care, with prevention integrated throughout.
This approach supports a network model, with back-up for services provided at health centre and district hospital level by clinical methods within a strengthened consultation/referral and back-referral system.
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