NEWS: 50,000 more to get free Aids drugs

Thursday, 12th March, 2009 from NEW VISION

By Anthony Bugembe

ANOTHER 50,000 people living with HIV/AIDS are now eligible for free treatment under the new guidelines which the Ministry of Health released yesterday. The ministry recommended that anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment should start when the CD4 count of adults is less than 250, instead of 200 as has been the case, Sam Zaramba, the director-general of Health Services, said in a statement. CD4 count is a measure of the strength of the immune system. A higher CD4 count means that a person’s immunity is still strong. Dr. Kihumuro Apuuli, the Uganda AIDS Commission chairman, said under the new rules, the number of people eligible for the treatment will rise from 350,000 to about 400,000 people. ARVs suppress HIV to the extent that it cannot be detected in the blood. As at the end February, about 160,000 patients had been initiated on the treatment, just 50% of the people who need the life-prolonging drugs. For pregnant women and children less than 12 months, the treatment can start when CD4 cell counts are above 250 but less than 350, Zaramba said. Research in Uganda shows that treatment should start at the CD4 count of 350. However, due to shortage of resources, for many years the Ministry of Health has kept the cut-off point at 200. Dr. Andrew Kambugu, the head of mentoring and training at the Infectious Diseases Institute, said: “The 250 cut-off point is the balance between what science says and what the health ministry can afford.” Antiretroviral therapy first became available in 1998. About 1,500 patients are enrolled monthly. In August 2008, the drugs ran out and the ministry averted the shortage partly through soliciting for donations. “In order to reach the majority of all patients who require ARVs, steps are being taken to scale up HIV counselling and testing services,” Zaramba said. He said when people know their HIV sero-status, it can facilitate them to enter treatment early before they start getting complications. Only 25% of Ugandans know their HIV status. However, the Government has been encouraging people, especially the youth, to find out their HIV sero status to promote responsible living in case they are HIV-positive. Nearly 650,000 Ugandans unknowingly live with HIV-positive sexual partners. If nothing is done to make them aware of the risk, about 13% of them (about 85,000) will become infected this year. This partly explains why Uganda’s HIV infection rate is going up. More than a million Ugandans live with HIV. This translates to a prevalence rate of 6%.