Top aid agency pulls out of Aids programme
Bongani Mthethwa and Thandisizwe Mgudlwa, Sunday Times
2006-02-13
Leadin humanitarian aid agency Mdecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is pulling out of one of South Africas most successful Aids treatment programmes.
MSF has already reduced its involvement in the antiretroviral therapy (ART) programme in Khayelitsha in the Western Cape.
This week Dr Eric Goemaere, head of mission for MSF South Africa, said that
the agency had already handed the provision of Aids drugs over to the provincial
health department, and that the number of doctors on the programme had been
reduced.
But the move is said to have created anxiety among the HIV-positive patients
who have benefited from the groundbreaking project over the past five years
Goemaere said patients were sceptical of the governments Aids treatment
programme. So for the moment they are observing the situation and are waiting
to see what will happen.
However, Goemaere said MSF was not leaving a sinking ship behind. He
said while it intended staying in Khayelitsha for other projects, the plan was
to pull out of the ART programme completely in two years.
But news of MSFs withdrawal has not caused 26-year-old Bukelwa any
anxiety. She is one of the thousands of HIV-positive people in Khayelitsha who
visit the Michael Mapongwana Community Health Centre once a month to receive
ARVs.
She discovered her status in 2001 and started using ARVs two years later
after learning they were being supplied by MSF. She is not concerned about the
rumours of MSF pulling out of the treatment programme.
I dont mind who takes over from MSF in the future, what is important is
that the drugs must be available to people who need them, she said.
I also dont think that the government will stop providing drugs to
people in need.
She lives with her boyfriend, who is HIV-negative, in their Khayelitsha home,
and has no children but would love to one day. You have to learn about
yourself when you are positive.
She said she met HIV-positive friends from time to time for counselling and
that this helped her to cope with her illness. I am looking forward to life.
Theres a lot in life for people like me.
Mark Heywood of the Treatment Action Campaign, which has been deeply involved
in the programme, said there had been an agreement from the beginning that it
would eventually be taken over by the government .
Patients will continue to receive treatment as the government will be
taking over the programme. So nothing will happen to the patients, Heywood
said.
Sibane Mngadi, the spokesman for Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang,
confirmed the move in Khayelitsha.
More than 80% of the staff providing treatment in the three affected sites
are now employed by the government, said Mngadi.
He said the government had emphasised the need to ensure sustainability in
the planning of ARV programmes.
Mngadi said the governments Aids programme continued to grow and had
reached a total of 117897 patients on ARV treatment nationally by last year.
He said treatment was now available at 229 public health facilities across
the country.
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