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Dr Chimedza

Paidamoyo Chipunza Health Reporter
PEOPLE living with HIV and Aids will start accessing anti-retroviral drugs from a CD4 count of 500 up from the previous 350 beginning January next year, Health and Child Care Deputy Minister has said. Officially launching the 2013 World Health Organisation guidelines in Harare yesterday, Dr Paul Chimedza said all HIV positive children under the age of five would also be started on treatment as soon as they are diagnosed irrespective of their CD4 count.

Couples in situations where one partner is positive (discordant) are also set to receive ARVs irrespective of their CD4 count.

Pregnant women and HIV positive breastfeeding women have already started receiving ARVs despite their CD4 count.

The new WHO guidelines would also see an increase in the number of people requiring ARVs from 860 000 to 1,2 million.

People who are HIV positive would also be tested of the level of the virus in the blood (viral load testing) to complement the CD4 Count testing.

“To adopt the new guidelines, Zimbabwe went through a wide consultative process that brought input from all stakeholders and this process gave us the new consolidated guidelines for the use of ARV medicines for treating and preventing HIV,” Dr Chimedza said.

He said the ARV coverage would also fall from 86 percent to 67 percent.

He said although the new guidelines require more resources, Government was confident of its feasibility.

“This is going to be a gradual process which makes it easy to manage,” Dr Chimedza said.

In terms of funding Dr Chimedza said drugs have already been taken care of up to 2016.

Head of Aids and TB Unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Owen Mugurungi said Government had given itself time to finalise the logistics involved in implementing the new guidelines, hence scheduling of implementation for January.

“We have to be ready in terms of making sure that we have adequate medicines, adequate test kits and also making sure that nurses and doctors are trained on the new guidelines,” he said.

Dr Mugurungi, however, said switching people from Tenofovier to a more efficacious regimen – Efavirenz – would take a bit longer as stocks of the drug were still available.

Speaking at the same occasion WHO representative Dr David Okello said adoption of the new guidelines called for expedited decentralisation and integration of HIV into health programmes.

He said there could also be a need for task-sharing.

“Of note is that WHO has been providing technical assistance in the adaptation of these guidelines and I want to assure you of our continued support during the rollout of the guidelines country-wide including monitoring their implementation,” he said.

An estimated 1,2 million people are living with HIV in Zimbabwe and about 400 000 are currently on ARVs.

Early initiation of people living with HIV on ARVs will significantly enhance an individual’s immune system hence reduced chance of getting opportunistic infections.

HIV remains one of the major causes of illnesses and death in Zimbabwe.