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Caring for people living with HIV/AIDS takes more than ARVs
HDN Key Correspondent. 13 June 2005. A postiing from Af-AIDS ([email protected])
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"One of the things that has been missing in a lot of people's lives is that they don't have enough people affirming them". This is the view of Dr Okunga-Nambassi, a physician who provides care for people living with HIV/AIDS in a provincial hospital in northern KwaZulu-Natal, a South African province that has an adult HIV infection rate of approximately 37%.
She feels that her responsibility as a healthcare provider is to give people support and encouragement throughout the continuum of care, from the time they get tested until after they start antiretroviral therapy.
Dr Okunga-Nambassi is a strong believer in nurturing people's emotional as well as their physical, health. She takes time in counsellng sessions to help patients set life goals, so that they can live positively with HIV/AIDS. "Unless people know why they are here, what their reason for continuing to live is, I think we might be treating people for no reason."
She recounted one patient who felt very despondent about his HIV status. She worked with him to set goals for getting a diploma, securing his driving licence, and returning to his community as a healthy individual. With access to antiretrovirals (ARVs) and the support of his physician, the man was able to successfully meet his life goals.
While Dr Okunga-Nambassi has clearly seen the success of ARVs among her patients, she is also concerned that the focus on ARVs might detract from other more immediate services for people living with HIV/AIDS (PWHA).
"A lot of people are getting the message that they have to wait for services until they are able to get on ARVs. They arrive, and even if they are quite unwell, they are told to come back months later. And that sends the wrong message, that there's nothing can be done about it."
She emphasises the need to treat opportunistic infections earlier, to improve the quality of primary care services, to address issues of nutrition and food security, and to continue to focus on prevention of new infections. Asked what strategies for action she would recommend, Dr. Okunga-Nambassi emphasised the importance of education.
"I think it's more about what people do not know and not what they do not have", she added. "That's where governments and donor agencies are making a mistake,they are throwing money at people, without giving them the information that goes with that money." Dr Okunga-Nambassi stressed that education does not only happen in schools. It is also happens in the family and community and through the media. Her final message:"We have to support and teach each other." |
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