The donation came from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through Pepfar (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), "Right to Care" campaign, at an official handover, Thursday.

The five vehicles will be distributed equally amongst the five districts with the aim to improve patient access to and from health facilities.

It's said that due to poverty, many HIV positive people cannot afford transport to get to the antiretroviral (ARV) treatment sites. However, once the vehicles are in operation, they will collect people from outlying areas and transport them to the site before taking them home again.

The donation comes amid continued technical and financial support from "Right to Care" and will have a significant impact on the health of people living with AIDS in the province.

"Right to Care" is in partnership with the department's scaling up of the HIV and AIDS programme in the province.

This includes provision of human resources, technical support and equipment.

"Right to Care" together with the department has appointed medical officers, pharmacists, dieticians, social workers and data managers for seven ARV sites in the province.

These include the Springbok Hospital, the Gordonia Hospital, the Kuruman Hospital, the Ethembeni Clinic in Prieska, the De Aar Community Health Center, the Galeshewe Day Hospital and the Jan Kempdorp ARV Clinic.

They have also given medical equipment to those sites and will further assist with the infrastructure.

They have also appointed four lay counsellors per site.

Together with social workers, the counsellors will embark on home visits in an effort to get people who have defaulted on ARV treatment, back onto the system.

They will also look at issues of adherence to both TB treatment and ARV treatment.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews