THABO MOLELEKWA
writes: People living with disabilities are often left out of HIV programs
despite the fact that they are disproportionately at risk. Treatment Action
Campaign activists say that, unless this is addressed, South Africa will
struggle to reach the 90-90-90 target set by UNAids.
The idea is that by 2020,
90% of people who are HIV infected will be diagnosed; 90% of people who are diagnosed
will be on antiretroviral treatment and 90% of those who receive
antiretrovirals will be virally suppressed.
Rosemary Brown is one of
the researchers on the HPTN 071 (PopART) study, a randomized trial evaluating an HIV
prevention package in 21 communities in Zambia and South Africa.
Brown told the SA Aids
conference that the study had shown that people living with disabilities were
at higher risk of acquiring HIV. The reason for this was that “few HIV programs
sufficiently address the needs of people with disabilities.”
Getting access to HIV
testing and treatment services was often challenging for people with
disabilities. “Scale up of HIV testing
and treatment services for people with disabilities requires decentralisation
through community based services,” she said.
TAC’s Portia Serote revealed that children in informal settlements
who lived with disabilities and were unable to attend school were also missing
out on vaccination against the human papilloma virus, which can cause cervical cancer. This was because government was only carrying
out vaccinations in school when girls were in Grade 4.
“Those children are at
risk of being raped. They are therefore vulnerable to all kinds of diseases but
they are always left out of HIV programs.” said Serote.
“If the government continues to exclude the
people living with disabilities, it is not likely that the country will reach
the 90-90-90 goal,” she said.
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