News

South African government greenlights three-month supply of ARVs

13 July 2010

In a bid to ease pressure on South Africa’s over-burdened public health sector, the government has given hospitals and clinics permission to give patients on HIV/AIDS treatment a three-month supply of their antiretroviral medication (ARVs).

In a recent memo the Department of Health said there was no legal barrier to supplying patients with multiple months of treatment, and it could lighten the burden on the health sector; an estimated 700,000 patients are currently receiving ARV treatment through monthly visits to public health facilities.

Patients could also benefit. New research from the Reproductive Health and HIV Research Unit (RHRU), in Johannesburg, found that most patients who defaulted on treatment did so because they were unable to get time off work for monthly clinic visits. Poor adherence to ARVs can lead to drug resistance, necessitating more expensive second-line treatment and limiting future treatment options.

The department of Health cautioned facilities to evaluate their supply chain management and drug storage capacity before making a decision about whether or not to start issuing three-month supplies of the drugs.

Supply chain management has been a long-standing challenge in the public health sector, which is currently experiencing shortages of the first-line ARV, tenofovir, the TAC said.

A shortage of pharmacists, especially in rural areas, to schedule drug orders and deliveries, and monitor drug stocks, was compounding such problems.

The TAC has urged government to procure fixed-dose combination ARVs, which deliver three ARV drugs in a single pill and can be dispensed by pharmacy assistants, as one way of addressing the shortage of pharmacists.

Read more at IrinPlus News.