Health facilities in Matabeleland are grappling with severe shortages of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), forcing healthcare providers to reduce the amount of medication dispensed to HIV patients.
A report by the Thematic Committee on HIV and AIDS highlights how these shortages are affecting the region’s ability to provide consistent treatment, potentially jeopardising the health of those living with HIV.
“In Tsholotsho, they reported that they sometimes experience limited stock of ARVs. Therefore, they repackage their ART into smaller quantities, that is, from three months’ supply per patient to as low as one week when supplies were significantly low,” the report read.
“They highlighted that sometimes ART centres borrow supplies from each other in order to meet demand. However, they reported that they never had to send patients away without drugs. The Committee was informed that the ideal situation was to have six months’ worth of drug supplies.”
The challenges extend beyond ARV shortages. In Mangwe District, hospitals struggle to conduct CD4 count and viral load tests due to the lack of essential reagents and testing kits.
In Luveve, CD4 count was not being carried out as test kits were not available and that viral load testing was being processed at Mpilo Hospital.
All the healthcare centres were in need of viral load machines to help with the monitoring of HIV positive patients’ progress.
The report further cited that most of the health care facilities were not adequately staffed to deal with the volumes of patients who need care, resulting in people queuing for long periods to get their ART supplies.
St. Annes in Mangwe and Luveve reported that they only had two registered nurses in their OIC units.
Statistics contained in the report showed that Tsholotsho had 18 404 people with HIV, 1 078 being women, 5 775 men and 977 children.
Mangwe had a total of 14 669, 9 103 women, 5 175 men and 391 children.
In Luveve, there was a total of 4 981, 3 012 were women, 1 919 men and 50 children.
The report stated that the number of women was higher because they are more open to getting tested during pregnancy as a pre-requisite, which is not the case for men.
