‘Locate the missing to curb HIV’ – NPO director

If the Mpumalanga government is serious about quelling new infection cases of HIV it should locate the missing patients and bring them back to treatment, according to Thandi Maluka, director of Positive Women Network (PWN).

PWN is a non-profit organisation representing HIV-positive women and also fighting for the rights of women who are ill-treated at health care facilities.

It was recently learnt that several people who tested positive for HIV had stopped taking the treatment and disappeared, thus reportedly contributing to the growing number of infections in the province.

‘Support groups must return’

Speaking to The Citizen last week, Maluka said the government needed to come up with a strategy to assist in addressing the problem if it was serious about minimising new HIV infection cases in the province.

“To fight this challenge of missing patients on treatment and also prevent it from happening, we feel support groups and adherence clubs must come back in our facilities because it is really hard for a newly infected person to adhere to treatment when they do not even understand the importance of taking it,” she said.

“As much as we do the testing and treatment, we cannot stop sharing information about HIV. Counselling is still key.”

“We urge the government to support programmes that offer psychological support. They must also support community-based organisations because they are the ones on the ground and can be able to trace missing patients in our communities.”

Government observing for 15 years

A few days ago, the Mpumalanga Provincial Aids Council (MPAC) chair Sonto Nkosi said the province was facing a problem of patients disappearing and called on the government to locate the missing patients and give them support.

Nkosi was speaking at an event at Bundu Lodge, Mbombela, aimed at assessing the progress in the implementation of the Provincial Implementation Plan for HIV, TB and STIs.

MPAC is an entity formed by the provincial government in 2009 to address issues relating to HIV, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases.

Nkosi also called on the government to use the conditional donations from donors solely for the fight against HIV and TB.

Recently, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) complained that the government’s strategy of supplying clinics with medications for only a month to three months made some people to stop taking treatment.

TAC spokesperson Morongwa Ntini said people should be given treatment that would last for a long time to avoid frequent visits.