24 November 2008
Maputo — Mozambican Health Minister Ivo Garrido on Monday admitted that poor counselling by the health services is one of the main reasons why HIV-positive patients abandon anti-retroviral therapy (ARVT).
"If the patient abandons treatment, it is because the counselling given by the health worker is no good", said Garrido. "But if the advice and information given to the patient is efficient, then the patient does not abandon treatment, not even when he feels better".
Speaking to reporters at the end of a meeting of the National AIDS Council (CBNCS), Garrido stressed that an HIV-positive person should attend at least two counselling sessions before starting to take anti-retroviral drugs. "At these sessions the patient must learn, not only how to take the drugs, but also the eventual consequences of interrupting the treatment", he stressed.
Among the crucial information that patients should receive, he said, was the fact that an improvement in their state of health does not mean that they are cured, and they must continue to take the drugs.
Garrido added that other factors, beyond the control of the health service, also played a role in some cases where patients gave up the treatment. These included inadequate diet, difficulties in traveling to the health unit to pick up the drugs, other illnesses in the family, and a variety of socio-cultural factors.
Initially anti-retroviral drugs were only available in Mozambique's major cities, but access was rapidly expanded and today ARVT is available in all 128 Mozambican districts.
While this growth was positive, said Garrido, it was true that with the growth in the number of people on anti-retrovirals, the number dropping out of treatment would also increase. He stressed that the Health Ministry is trying to ensure that counselling is efficient, and that the maximum possible number of patients continue to follow the treatment.
The latest Health Ministry statistics indicate that 16 per cent of all Mozambican aged between 15 and 49 are infected with HIV.
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