HIGH COST OF HIV TREATMENT

The cost of HIV/AIDS treatment is high and people living with the disease and their carers must ensure that they stick to drug treatment, according to the former National AIDS council director Wep Kanawi.

He told the people at Kokopo Sports Ground that the country had 35,000 to 40,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. He said that treatment is not cheap.

If people keep to their regime, it will cost K5,000 to K6,000 each year per patient.

But if they break the regime by missing 3 or 4 days, then the vital load will increase. This can be a problem in rural areas, the result of landslides, floods, tribal fights and road blocks. Please click:

CONCERN OVER ARV DRUG HOLIDAYS

Carers must make sure they stick to their first line of drugs. If they move to the second line, it will be costly.

He said that use of drugs, alcohol abuse, domestic violence, instability in communities, lack of care from stakeholders all drove the virus.

Mr Kanawi told us several years ago that that family was the epicentre of the HIV/AIDS response. That may be why he is no longer Director. The Australian activist gays and lesbians may still have a venomous bite.

AIDS Holistics reminds readers that AIDS sufferers must make sure they stay on the first line of drugs. To miss out, they run the risk of the virus becoming immune. To go on the second line of drugs, the cost will be far too much and the person will die.

There was an experiment recorded about 8 years ago in an Australian gay and lesbian magazine of a group of people living with HIV/AIDS who were scheduled to go off and on their drugs month in month out.

But the experiment was soon stopped as most of the test people died.