“When they do a viral load test they don’t tell you the results. Since I started ARVs, I’ve never known what my viral load is”

Treatment literacy educates and empowers ordinary people in South Africa to understand how HIV and TB work in the body, how they can be treated, and how transmission can be prevented. It helps people understand the importance of taking treatment as prescribed. Yet not all clinics ensure that they explain the results of people’s viral load tests and help them understand the importance of taking treatment effectively.

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.

Clinics providing poor treatment literacy education is 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 kept in the dark about your pills, disempowers people living with HIV.

#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.