mmegi

A nightmare develops in HIV treatment

Old enemy: Botswana is among four countries that have achieved the near-impossible 95-95-95 targets for HIV/AIDS
Old enemy: Botswana is among four countries that have achieved the near-impossible 95-95-95 targets for HIV/AIDS

The country’s recent world-beating achievement in the fight against HIV/AIDS, could be undone by reports that some patients are going without ARVs, while a shortage of HIV test kits mean many aren’t monitoring their viral loads. Mmegi Correspondent NNASARETHA KGAMANYANE reports

In interviews and field visits in the last two weeks, Mmegi has established that many local health facilities that do not have pharmacists on duty, are not dispensing Antiretroviral medication, popularly known as ARVs, and that there is also a shortage of HIV test kits.

The investigation was sparked by complaints from some People Living with HIV (PLHIV) that they were experiencing troubles getting their ARVs from their regular clinics as pharmacists have disappeared due to an ongoing industrial action.

Editor's Comment
Depression is real; let's take care of our mental health

It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...

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