It is critical that people taking ARVs understand the benefits of taking their pills every day. Yet in Mpumalanga, only 84% of those interviewed understood that having an undetectable viral load means treatment is working well — and just 70% understood that having an undetectable viral load means a person cannot transmit HIV. Mpumalanga scored the worst across all provinces monitored by Ritshidze in ensuring people understood the importance of an undetectable viral load. For those with an elevated viral load, quality counselling and support is critical. Instead though, too often people can be dismissed out of hand and left confused and frustrated.
Poor treatment literacy is among ten key issues outlined in the latest edition of a Ritshidze State of Health report in Mpumalanga, launched today. Below Lindiwe* explains that in November 2023, she was given a blood test at Ethandakukhanya Clinic in Piet Retief. Her CD4 count was found to be low and the nurses told her that they would be switching her ARVs to another medication. Lindiwe says that that clinic visit was the start of months of confusion for her. Read her full story below.
After being told her CD4 count was low she was sent to the pharmacy without any further information. At the pharmacy she says she was sent back to the nurses. The frustration of being sent from pillar to post on this occasion gave Lindiwe a chance — she thought — to push the nurses for some answers to what was happening to her.
“I was very confused. So when I got back to their consulting area I was hoping that they could explain and tell me why they were switching me and what my CD4 count meant,” she says. Instead, Lindiwe was dismissed out of hand for a second time.
She says: “I found two nurses there in the consulting room. When I asked my question the professional nurse just walked out and said she had to go to the toilet. She left me there with an intern who didn’t know what to tell me.”
Back at the pharmacy she was given her pills for three-months but they looked different to what she’s used to. And being told she had a low CD4 count she expected to be back for a follow-up appointment within the month, but instead she was given three months’ refill. She is only scheduled for a check-up in August — nine months will have passed from when her first blood tests were done.
“I was worried and confused. Eventually I went back to the clinic to find a nurse that I’m friendly with and asked her what was going on. She told me the medicine had not been changed but the packaging had changed. She said she also couldn’t retrieve my patient file so she didn’t know what to tell me about my blood test results,” Lindiwe says.
Lindiwe says she is worried that many more months will pass before she is going to have a check-up again. Added to this she says the frustration of not being able to ask basic questions of staff is infuriating.
“They have a bad attitude. They are nurses but they don’t want to even explain one or two things to us. I’m not asking for anything special, just that they help us patients,” she says.
* Name changed to protect identity
#MpumalangaHealth #GertSibandeHealth
