SA’s rate of new HIV infections highest in world
A 2012 count reported 7 000 new HIV infections each week globally among the 15 – 24-year-old female age group.
AS South Africa’s rate of new HIV infections soars, the Department of Health’s new eligibility criteria for anti-retroviral treatment (ART) should significantly reduce mortality and opportunistic diseases like Tuberculosis (TB).
A 2012 count reported 7 000 new HIV infections each week globally among the 15 – 24-year-old female age group. A staggering 2 363 occur in South Africa with Uganda in second place, reporting 570.
South Africa also tops the list of the top ten countries with HIV/TB deaths, at 88 000. Mozambique follows with 45 000.
The department’s new ART measures include the treatment of five-year-old girls and younger, a second polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for confirmation, and the treatment of all children older than five years, as well as teens and adults, with a CD4 count of 500 cells per cubic millimetre or lower.
The new guidelines also provide lifelong ART for pregnant and breastfeeding women regardless of their CD4 count. The aim of these guidelines is to ensure HIV-infected people meeting certain criteria start the right treatment at the right time, improve quality of life, reduce the burden of TB in HIV and reduce new HIV infections.
KwaZulu-Natal’s main HIV study centre, Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies based in Somkhele, does not directly administer treatments but has a good working relationship with uMkhanyakude District Municipality and the KZN Department of Health.
Kevindra Krishna Naidu, Head of Clinical Studies, said, ‘While Africa Centre is not responsible for directly implementing the new guidelines, we support the local health services and will play an important role when evaluating the population impact – social, economic, health – of these new guidelines.’
Naidu went on to say the centre must ensure all of its research operations and current clinical research projects amend study protocols to align to the new South African guidelines as the new standard of care for all those receiving healthcare locally.
‘The main study affected by these changes is the Treatment as Prevention clinical trial which is a cluster randomised trial to evaluate whether treating all those who are HIV infected in the community, regardless of CD4 count at diagnosis, versus current standard of care will reduce the number of new HIV infections.
In other words, will such a strategy protect the HIV negative members of the community from acquiring HIV,’ concluded Naidu.
