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AIDS threatens to swamp healthcare system
Business Day
2000-04-13

The Namibian government considers home based care as the most viable option for caring for the percentage of their population infected with HIV.

The Namibian government's healthcare system can no longer cope with the number of people infected with AIDS, says a report launched by Health Minister Dr Libertina Amathila. The report, funded by the French embassy and compiled after an assessment of health risk behaviour in four northern Namibian towns, said the government and its healthcare systems could not afford or handle the number of people sick with AIDS. It said it was only a matter of time before the number of full-blown AIDS patients increased exponentially in the country and highlighted home-based care as an important way of sharing the burden with the community. The most recent statistics issued by the National AIDS Co-ordination Programme says about 70 000 HIV cases have been reported, but sources said that as many as 200 000 Namibians could be infected with the virus that causes AIDS. The total cost of hospitalisation for AIDS is estimated to have reached R316,9m between 1996 and this year, while the total outpatient costs for HIV infected people over the same period have reached R85,6m. The report said home-based care would soon become a significant concern for the government, non-governmental organisations and donors, as well as community members. The current home-based care programme is insufficient to deal with the needs of patients currently sick with AIDS, let alone the projected increase in patient loads, it warns. The trend in Namibia is for HIV-positive people who begin manifesting full-blown AIDS symptoms to return to the rural areas to be cared for by their families. This pattern has significant implications for rural households, and rural women in particular, as they attempt to cater for multiple family members in need of care, the report said. It said that the lack of resources and other problems caused by the AIDS pandemic had forced the government to shift the burden of caring for AIDS patients to families and communities which, more often than not, do not have the resources to cope with the crisis. Currently, the government is handling home-based care in such a way that the programme is seen as a way to throw AIDS victims away to die, or for dumping AIDS patients on their families and communities. The way home-based care is run reinforces the perception that AIDS patients are hopeless cases. It said: Consequently, the biggest problem in home-based care continues to be the isolation of AIDS patients. Food, when given, is just put down near them and patients are not bathed or cared for in any way. The health ministry has a small-scale, home-based care scheme in place for AIDS patients. This involves occasional visits to sick people and advice on how to care for relatives. The report said fear of infection due to a lack of knowledge was one of the leading reasons why a social stigma was attached to HIV-positive Namibians. (Source: Business Day, 13/4/00)

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