South African domestic worker Mabuyi Dlamini always dreaded the bumpy, day-long minibus journey she had to make each month to pick up her HIV medication from the nearest clinic in KwaZulu-Natal province.
So when a mobile medical service carrying nurses, counsellors and supplies of antiretroviral drugs began visiting her district two years ago, she was relieved. During COVID-19 lockdowns that made travel impossible, it became a lifeline.
“It has saved me time, money and my health,” said Dlamini, 46, as she waited in line with farm workers next to the blue minivan on a dirt road bordered by thick, green sugarcane crops.
HIV professionals battling to maintain services during the coronavirus pandemic have been adopting similarly innovative methods – from mailing out prescriptions to scaling up self-testing and video consultations.
Their creative approach appears to have helped buck forecasts for a plunge in global HIV treatment rates, though international organisations say the coronavirus has still dealt a blow to the global fight against HIV.
But even before COVID-19, a target set by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for 73% of HIV-positive people to be on antiretroviral drugs and have a fully suppressed virus was missed.
And there were an estimated 1.5 million new infections and 680,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2020, far higher than the UNAIDS goal to limit both to 500,000 per year.
By Benjamin Ryan and Kim Harrisberg
* Global HIV/AIDS fight ‘knocked off track’ by COVID-19
* Testing rates fall, treatment targets missed
* Experts say creative solutions help avert bigger setback
GAY TIMES and Openly/Thomson Reuters Foundation are working together to deliver leading LGBTQ+ news to a global audience.
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