“Clinic appointments take up a lot of your time. On my appointment date I have to be up at 5am to get to the queue”
Many people living with HIV are frustrated by having to wait many hours at the clinic every time they have to collect their ARVs. This is also the experience faced by Sheila* from Mpumalanga. A way to counter this would be to collect a longer supply of pills. This would simply mean fewer trips back to the clinic just to collect medicines, making it easier to stay on treatment. It would also mean less people living with HIV at the clinic every day making waiting times longer for everyone. In Sheila’s opinion a 6 month supply of ARVs would be helpful not only for people living with HIV, but also for busy clinic staff at over-congested clinics. We agree. This is why TAC will be taking to the streets on 1 December to demand 6 month ARV refills for all stable people living with HIV. Let’s meet Sheila.
Seven years ago when Sheila was pregnant, she was diagnosed with HIV and initiated on treatment as part of routine check-ups.
“Back then they didn’t give me much counselling, they just said I had to start treatment to protect my baby,” she says.
While she says a lot more still needs to be done to make sure that people have the right information about HIV and treatment, she says today there is more access to information and it has become easier for people to be open about their status and their treatment.
She says as the years pass there are also more people having been on ARVs for a long time, and many do take personal responsibility for their treatment. As a one-time home-based carer, Sheila believes many stable people living with HIV would be able to manage their treatment with a 6 month supply of ARVs successfully.
For about the last three years Sheila has herself been on a 3 month supply through Gutshwa Clinic in Kabokweni in Mpumalanga.
“Getting a 3 month supply helped me a lot. Because the clinic appointments take up a lot of your time. On my appointment date I have to be up at 5am to get to the queue. You are always hoping that you are number one in the queue or at least in the front by the time the clinic opens.”
“We queue for vitals and then you have to queue again for treatment collection. I only come back home by 1pm,” says Sheila.
Each clinic visit also meant she had to take a morning off work, which she says is also highly disruptive.
Sheila says getting a 6 month supply of ARVs would be helpful for people and also for nurses. She adds: “I think it would help release more stress to the nurses. Like now they are busy complaining about working more hours and they need more pay – but this would release them by reducing people coming to the clinic unless they are sick.”
For Sheila, another important reason to introduce 6 month supply is to ensure that when people travel away from home for extended periods for work or to visit family, they can continue treatment without defaulting.
She says: “My neighbour is from Maputo but the clinic won’t give her multi-months because they say she doesn’t have the right documents. It means now when she goes home for a few weeks over Christmas she might end up defaulting.”
“The government must see that it’s more important to keep people on their treatment when they need to travel – with or without papers.”
* Name changed to protect identity
#MoreARVPillsNow
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