225 000 HIV/AIDS patients lost to ARV treatment in Gauteng
26 November 2020
About 225 000 HIV/AIDS patients in Gauteng have discontinued their ARV treatment.
This is revealed in the Gauteng Health Department’s 2nd Quarter Report which was recently tabled in the Gauteng Legislature and covers the July to September period this year.
According to the report 1 076 638 patients have remained on ARVs against the set target of 1 301 235, which the Department says is due to high loss to follow-up that was aggravated by the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I am also concerned that new estimates from the Thembisa mathematical model of HIV in South Africa show that Gauteng is not doing well in suppressing the HIV virus in all affected people.