Namibia’s AIDS effort hailed

NAMIBIA was yesterday presented at an international conference in Canada as a success story in its rollout of AIDS drugs to people infected by the disease.

Health Undersecretary Dr Norbert Forster briefed the international AIDS community at the Toronto conference on how Namibia successfully met the target set by the United Nations Joint HIV-AIDS Programme (UNAIDS) under the so-called three-by-five initiative (three million people by the year 2005). Talking on the topic ‘Scaling Up ART: Time to Deliver’, Forster said Namibia was set a target to provide anti-retroviral drugs (ARV) to 14 500 patients by December 2005.Namibia had, however, managed to put 16 119 patients on the drugs by December 2005.The country has an estimated 52 000 people in need of ARV.Forster said the Ministry of Health began providing the drugs in mid-2003 and reached 32 of the 34 public hospitals in the country by 2005.”Uptake increased significantly with additional personnel from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) beginning in January 2004.Global Fund support began in June 2005,” Forster said.He said 64 per cent of the patients were female and 14 per cent children.”To date, 93 per cent are reportedly alive, five per cent died, two per cent defaulted and one per cent unknown.Including 4 000 on ART in the private sector, 38 per cent of patients in need were on ART by 2005 compared with six per cent in 2003,” Forster said.He said Government leadership combined with donor support contributed to the achievement while health worker attitudes towards HIV-AIDS care improved with ART availability.He said the next steps included decentralising ART from hospitals to health centres like clinics and transferring more tasks from doctors to nurses while increasing emphasis on quality.Health Minister Dr Richard Kamwi also addressed the week-long conference, which is being attended by more than 24 000 scientists, activists, health workers and other experts.On Monday he spoke on the subject ‘Time To Deliver For Girls And Women’ and on Tuesday about the military’s AIDS response to HIV-AIDS.The Namibian Government delegation consists of six other people, including Anita Isaaks, who represents people living with HIV in Namibia.Kamwi will return to Namibia tomorrow.Talking on the topic ‘Scaling Up ART: Time to Deliver’, Forster said Namibia was set a target to provide anti-retroviral drugs (ARV) to 14 500 patients by December 2005.Namibia had, however, managed to put 16 119 patients on the drugs by December 2005.The country has an estimated 52 000 people in need of ARV.Forster said the Ministry of Health began providing the drugs in mid-2003 and reached 32 of the 34 public hospitals in the country by 2005.”Uptake increased significantly with additional personnel from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) beginning in January 2004.Global Fund support began in June 2005,” Forster said. He said 64 per cent of the patients were female and 14 per cent children.”To date, 93 per cent are reportedly alive, five per cent died, two per cent defaulted and one per cent unknown.Including 4 000 on ART in the private sector, 38 per cent of patients in need were on ART by 2005 compared with six per cent in 2003,” Forster said.He said Government leadership combined with donor support contributed to the achievement while health worker attitudes towards HIV-AIDS care improved with ART availability.He said the next steps included decentralising ART from hospitals to health centres like clinics and transferring more tasks from doctors to nurses while increasing emphasis on quality.Health Minister Dr Richard Kamwi also addressed the week-long conference, which is being attended by more than 24 000 scientists, activists, health workers and other experts.On Monday he spoke on the subject ‘Time To Deliver For Girls And Women’ and on Tuesday about the military’s AIDS response to HIV-AIDS.The Namibian Government delegation consists of six other people, including Anita Isaaks, who represents people living with HIV in Namibia.Kamwi will return to Namibia tomorrow.