SWAZILAND: Order needed in chaotic ARV Programme

AIDS activists in Swaziland are calling for an urgent public AIDS education campaign and more testing facilities.

Claiming incidents of liver failure and even death due to Nevirapine, president of the Swaziland AIDS Support Organisation, Hannie Dlamini, told the UN information service, Plusnews, that the public needed to be informed about the dangers of some drugs and what happens when they are not properly taken.

She quoted World Health Organisation guidelines, which specify that people taking antiretrovirals must be tested 14 days after they start using them. "This is important for Nevirapine, which can be toxic in some people." In Swaziland it took a month before testing could be done.

In Swaziland there is only one machine available in the whole country to test the toxicity levels of blood from patients taking ARVs, making it difficult for the estimated 38.6 percent of HIV-positive adults to get their blood levels tested.

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