Health Ministry Takes Issue With Reporting on AIDS

KINDLY publish the following response unshortened.

The front page article written by Christof Maletsky in The Namibian newspaper of Monday 21 June 2004 on the launch of Lironga Eparu’s Treatment Consultation Report under the heading: AIDS treatment at State hospitals is ‘a lottery’, refers. The MoHSS has welcomed the publication of Lironga Eparu’s report, since it provides an overview of the issues that people living with HIV-AIDS indicated as problems at the time when they were interviewed for the study.However, the article is factually incorrect when it states that the study was conducted in September 2003.The timing of the study however is important: in fact, Lironga Eparu’s consultation was conducted between November 2002 and February 2003.Had your reporter been present at the launch or properly read only the very first page of Lironga Eparu’s report, he would have known when the research team conducted the consultation.This would have been important to state, since the article creates (by omission or commission?) the impression that there is wide-spread dissatisfaction with the ministry’s currently ongoing public sector HIV-AIDS treatment programme.Fact is, that the consultation on which the report is based took place more than half a year before the ministry even launched the Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programme.The opinions expressed in the report therefore can not be accepted – as the heading of your article suggests – to be representative of the experience of people receiving antiretroviral treatment services in the public sector at this point in time.In fact, a number of Lironga Eparu officials made that abundantly clear during the launch of the report.During the past 11 months, treatment with antiretroviral medication has been made available in seven hospitals in the public sector in Windhoek, Oshakati, Rundu, Katima Mulilo, Walvis Bay, Rehoboth and Keetmanshoop.More than 250 health professionals have been trained from these and other hospitals.Treatment management committees have been set up to coordinate programme implementation.These committees work closely with representatives from Lironga Eparu and other community organisations and are there to address problems as they arise at the local level.It is to Namibia’s credit that within less than one year, more than 2,000 patients are now receiving antiretroviral medication in the public sector.- And the number is increasing on a daily basis! Lironga Eparu clearly appreciated the fact that the Treatment Consultation Report was not reflecting any of these important developments of the past year.The organisation therefore arranged that during the launch four of their members provided witness accounts of their personal experience with the ARV treatment services, which they are currently receiving from various state hospitals.All the accounts were positive and supportive and expressed appreciation towards the ministry and the many health workers involved.They furthermore made an impressive and powerful statement on the remarkable difference good quality ARV treatment can make to the person living with the disease.It is once more regrettable that due to his absence your reporter could obviously not cover this important aspect of the launch.This would have been important information to share, particularly for those people living with HIV-AIDS, who as yet are undecided whether to go for voluntary testing and counselling or to be enrolled in the ARV programme and who may as a consequence still be spreading the virus unwittingly.On the other hand, as was expected, many people living with HIV-AIDS present during the launch openly expressed their wish that treatment should be made available in more centres as soon as possible.It was pointed out to them that the rate of the introduction of ARVs in the seven hospitals so far has been very rapid; that consequently, some of the hospitals are experiencing capacity problems (not least because of a lack of adequate human resources); but that the ministry’s target remains for each of our 13 regions to have at least one public sector hospital offer ARV treatment by the end of 2005.In addition, the undertaking was given that the findings of the Consultation Report would be shared with the relevant health facilities for their further consideration and action as and where appropriate.The general spirit during the launch of the report was one of mutual respect and understanding.It reflected a growing maturity and realisation amongst a number of partner organisations that in order to successfully fight the HIV-AIDS epidemic in our country, we must work together to build an enabling environment that will allow us all to tackle this serious national development challenge even more vigorously.It is indispensable that all of us, including people living with HIV-AIDS, our leaders in all spheres of society and our media, actively collaborate in this effort.As a matter of fact, this is also clearly stated in the guiding principles and main strategies of our Third Medium Term Plan on HIV-AIDS, which was launched only three months ago by His Excellency, President Nujoma.It is therefore regrettable that you chose to print the article in its current form and under a misleading heading on the front page of your paper.Your reporter clearly does not have his facts right in the first place.On top of that, it is most astonishing that he would produce such a potentially sensitive article without even having been present at the relevant occasion and without verifying his facts.The article is undeserving of the many people living with HIV-AIDS, who are doing extremely well on the ARV treatment provided by the public sector during the past year.It is also undeserving of the many nurses, doctors, pharmacists, laboratory technologists, counsellors and other health workers, who are doing an excellent job and are working tirelessly in order to make good quality ARV treatment accessible to as many Namibians as possible.Most unfortunately, by publishing the article as is, your newspaper did not only miss an excellent opportunity to show solidarity and to give credit where it is due, but you may also have raised unwarranted fears amongst people already on ARV treatment.In addition, you may have deterred some from seeking voluntary counselling and testing or treatment services.Not only in this regard, the article does us all a great disservice! Kindly ensure that Mr. Maletsky does his homework properly next time!Dr Norbert Foster Under Secretary Ministry of HealthChristof Maletsky responds: My story was purely based on Lironga Eparu’s Treatment Consultation report and quoted what the HIV positive people told those who did the study. It reflected the feelings of the infected people at the time the study was done. I know that a lot has changed since then and can prove this by a recent stroy I did on the success of the treatment programme in Keetmanshoop. The recent success of the programme does not, however, mean that everything is perfect.I recently had personal encounters with some infected people who are still not happy with the programme. I did mention that things have changed and cited an example of the Minister’s interview in the Rundu hospital ward issue. You state that my article raised unwarranted fears amongst people already on ARV treatment and that it is undeserving of the many health workers, who are doing an excellent job and are working tirelessly in order to make good quality ARV treatment accessible to as many Namibians as possible. I hope that they don’t get access to the Lironga Eparu Treatment Consultation Report because, it is exactly how they will feel.The MoHSS has welcomed the publication of Lironga Eparu’s report, since it provides an overview of the issues that people living with HIV-AIDS indicated as problems at the time when they were interviewed for the study. However, the article is factually incorrect when it states that the study was conducted in September 2003.The timing of the study however is important: in fact, Lironga Eparu’s consultation was conducted between November 2002 and February 2003.Had your reporter been present at the launch or properly read only the very first page of Lironga Eparu’s report, he would have known when the research team conducted the consultation.This would have been important to state, since the article creates (by omission or commission?) the impression that there is wide-spread dissatisfaction with the ministry’s currently ongoing public sector HIV-AIDS treatment programme.Fact is, that the consultation on which the report is based took place more than half a year before the ministry even launched the Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programme.The opinions expressed in the report therefore can not be accepted – as the heading of your article suggests – to be representative of the experience of people receiving antiretroviral treatment services in the public sector at this point in time.In fact, a number of Lironga Eparu officials made that abundantly clear during the launch of the report.During the past 11 months, treatment with antiretroviral medication has been made available in seven hospitals in the public sector in Windhoek, Oshakati, Rundu, Katima Mulilo, Walvis Bay, Rehoboth and Keetmanshoop.More than 250 health professionals have been trained from these and other hospitals.Treatment management committees have been set up to coordinate programme implementation.These committees work closely with representatives from Lironga Eparu and other community organisations and are there to address problems as they arise at the local level.It is to Namibia’s credit that within less than one year, more than 2,000 patients are now receiving antiretroviral medication in the public sector.- And the number is increasing on a daily basis! Lironga Eparu clearly appreciated the fact that the Treatment Consultation Report was not reflecting any of these important developments of the past year.The organisation therefore arranged that during the launch four of their members provided witness accounts of their personal experience with the ARV treatment services, which they are currently receiving from various state hospitals.All the accounts were positive and supportive and expressed appreciation towards the ministry and the many health workers involved.They furthermore made an impressive and powerful statement on the remarkable difference good quality ARV treatment can make to the person living with the disease.It is once more regrettable that due to his absence your reporter could obviously not cover this important aspect of the launch.This would have been important information to share, particularly for those people living with HIV-AIDS, who as yet are undecided whether to go for voluntary testing and counselling or to be enrolled in the ARV programme and who may as a consequence still be spreading the virus unwittingly.On the other hand, as was expected, many people living with HIV-AIDS present during the launch openly expressed their wish that treatment should be made available in more centres as soon as possible.It was pointed out to them that the rate of the introduction of ARVs in the seven hospitals so far has been very rapid; that consequently, some of the hospitals are experiencing capacity problems (not least because of a lack of adequate human resources); but that the ministry’s target remains for each of our 13 regions to have at least one public sector hospital offer ARV treatment by the end of 2005.In addition, the undertaking was given that the findings of the Consultation Report would be shared with the relevant health facilities for their further consideration and action as and where appropriate.The general spirit during the launch of the report was one of mutual respect and understanding.It reflected a growing maturity and realisation amongst a number of partner organisations that in order to successfully fight the HIV-AIDS epidemic in our country, we must work together to build an enabling environment that will allow us all to tackle this serious national development challenge even more vigorously.It is indispensable that all of us, including people living with HIV-AIDS, our leaders in all spheres of society and our media, actively collaborate in this effort.As a matter of fact, this is also clearly stated in the guiding principles and main strategies of our Third Medium Term Plan on HIV-AIDS, which was launched only three months ago by His Excellency, President Nujoma.It is therefore regrettable that you chose to print the article in its current form and under a misleading heading on the front page of your paper.Your reporter clearly does not have his facts right in the first place.On top of that, it is most astonishing that he would produce such a potentially sensitive article without even having been present at the relevant occasion and without verifying his facts.The article is undeserving of the many people living with HIV-AIDS, who are doing extremely well on the ARV treatment provided by the public sector during the past year.It is also undeserving of the many nurses, doctors, pharmacists, laboratory technologists, counsellors and other health workers, who are doing an excellent job and are working tirelessly in order to make good quality ARV treatment accessible to as many Namibians as possible.Most unfortunately, by publishing the article as is, your newspaper did not only miss an excellent opportunity to show solidarity and to give credit where it is due, but you may also have raised unwarranted fears amongst people already on ARV treatment.In addition, you may have deterred some from seeking voluntary counselling and testing or treatment services.Not only in this regard, the article does us all a great disservice! Kindly ensure that Mr. Maletsky does his homework properly next time! Dr Norbert Foster Under Secretary Ministry of HealthChristof Maletsky responds: My story was purely based on Lironga Eparu’s Treatment Consultation report and quoted what the HIV positive people told those who did the study. It reflected the feelings of the infected people at the time the study was done. I know that a lot has changed since then and can prove this by a recent stroy I did on the success of the treatment programme in Keetmanshoop. The recent success of the programme does not, however, mean that everything is perfect.I recently had personal encounters with some infected people who are still not happy with the programme. I did mention that things have changed and cited an example of the Minister’s interview in the Rundu hospital ward issue. You state that my article raised unwarranted fears amongst people already on ARV treatment and that it is undeserving of the many health workers, who are doing an excellent job and are working tirelessly in order to make good quality ARV treatment accessible to as many Namibians as possible. I hope that they don’t get access to the Lironga Eparu Treatment Consultation Report because, it is exactly how they will feel.