Health groups calls for continued access to HIV treatment and care during COVID

A call is being made for Caribbean countries to ensure that people living with HIV have reliable access to treatment, healthcare and human rights-based social support services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The call came from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP).

They argue that regular access to essential care and treatment for people living with HIV may be challenged at this time due to the burden of COVID-19 response on health facilities.

They contend that it is therefore vital that HIV programmes develop contingency plans to meet demand for the care and treatment of people living with HIV, as well as HIV testing, antenatal care and other essential sexual and reproductive health services.

During the implementation of quarantine, social distancing measures and stay-at-home orders, alternative modalities for remote or virtual clinical care may be explored, for example via telephone or on-line portals, the groups recommend.

The organisations argued that it is also critical that countries now implement HIV treatment guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) for multi-month dispensing.

This would ensure that people living with HIV, who are stable on antiretroviral treatment, are given three to six months of their medications at once.

Doing so, they say, will help alleviate the burden on health facilities and allow people to maintain uninterrupted treatment regimens without risking increased exposure to COVID-19 when retrieving their medicines.

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