"If you miss your date... you will be seen at the end of the queue"

“If you miss your date… you will be seen at the end of the queue”

30 July 2024

When people living with HIV disengage from treatment for any reason, clinicians should meet them with support when they return. However when they return, instead of being asked how treatment collection could be made easier, too many are shouted at or made to wait all day. This year 42% of people thought facility staff in Mpumalanga were never friendly, or only sometimes friendly. On top of this, 18% of people living with HIV surveyed told us that staff still send them to the back of the queue if they miss or are late for their appointment — yet national ART guidelines say this must not happen.

Staff unfriendliness — and other ways staff make it hard to stay on your ARVs — are among ten key issues outlined in the latest edition of a Ritshidze State of Health report in Mpumalanga, launched today. Watch the videos below to see how being shouted at or sent to the back of the queue makes it harder to stay on your ARVs.

#MpumalangaHealth #GertSibandeHealth

About RITSHIDZE

“Ritshidze” — meaning “Saving Our Lives” in TshiVenda — has been developed by people living with HIV and activists to hold the South African government and aid agencies accountable to improve overall HIV and TB service delivery.

Partner organisations include the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the National Association of People Living with HIV (NAPWA), Positive Action Campaign, Positive Women’s Network (PWN) and the South African Network of Religious Leaders Living with and affected by HIV/AIDS (SANERELA+)—in alliance with Health Global Access Project (Health GAP), the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), and Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law.

CLICK HERE to read more and see where we work.