[procaare] Community based administration of HAART(3)

[Francisco Rosas <procaare@healthnet.org>]

Re: Community based administration of HAART(3)
- Francisco Rosas
*****************

Understanding HAART. Is this a matter of human rights?

In the past GNP+ Conference, that took place in Uganda last month, I listened to some
activists complain about how the affected community should understand HAART. Now, there
were conclusions in that round-table discussion about how to educate the community about
HIV treatment. People there were from developing countries so I think they were speaking
in a common language. The discussion was about scarce and constrained resources
influencing the access to ARVs: how poverty and hunger are obstacles that avoid people
from poor populations understanding HAART benefits.

I want to leave those important contributions from the colleagues in the GNP+ Conference
and to start from the experience from a PLHA from a country where there is one side a
policy of universal access and on the other side, there are great problems to approach
people that need HAART.

I think that people need to be trained in how HAART works. It is a true that HAART is not
the cure, but provides us with the hope to live longer with well-being and healthy
condition. Often, some people from illiterate communities leave HAART when they feel in
good health, because they believe that they have been "cured", just because signs and
symptoms of the disease of HIV infection disappear, but when those signs and symptoms
returns with force, people come back very ill and many lose their life soon. This is a sad
but true in health settings where counselling is not provided that allows people to
understand about HAART. This is that I called HIV treatment literacy.

I am not against the public policy of universal access to HIV treatment, but this policy
should be followed with a comprehensive approach that includes a wide range of health
services from a team of trained caregivers. In other words, this is that I call high
quality of care to PLHA.

This is the ideal care and attention model to people infected and affected, but in the
real world of developing countries, people living with HIV infection that are in need of
this kind of care are not able to access this.

This is a matter of human rights: the right to health services with high quality for
people living with HIV infection.

People living with HIV infection should speak up about the connection among care with high
quality, human rights and access to HIV treatment (HAART)¡.

Francisco Rosas
HIV/AIDS Consultant
Email: frosas22@prodigy.net.mx

--
ProCAARE is currently supporting the 6th Home and Community Care
Conference in Dakar, Senegal (December 8 - 12, 2003).
For more information: http://www.dakarvih2003.sn/

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