NEW: ART door-to-door service saves lives

Ray Bande in MAKONI

SUPPLY of Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) in a door-to-door delivery intervention programme, itself a pilot project in Makoni District of Manicaland, has significantly reduced cases of treatment defaulting.

Dubbed the Community Anti-Retroviral Treatment Facilitator (CATCF) model, the intervention employed by National Aids Council (NAC) and partners, is a new ART collection and delivery programme, which has greatly enhanced HIV treatment adherence through offering door-to-door delivery of medication, resulting in only four defaulting cases being recorded out of 500 ART clients in the previous three years in areas under St Theresa Mission Hospital in Makoni District.

This was revealed during a NAC media tour of Manicaland meant to familiarise journalists on HIV intervention programmes being carried out in different parts of the country.

The CATCF model is the first to be implemented in the country and is being rolled out at seven health facilities in Makoni District.

In an interview at St Theresa Mission Hospital, Ms Prisca Kurida (32), who is married to Moral Muje (37) and are beneficiaries of the programme under the Family Antiretroviral Refill Group (FARG) arm, hailed the intervention.

“Before this programme, we used to face difficulties in accessing medication. This resulted in a number of people defaulting. We had some of our relatives and friends dying after defaulting. When this programme was introduced, we started getting medication at our doorsteps and we never missed treatment,” she said.

Mr Itai Madondo, a CATFCT staffer, said: “We started this programme on January 16, 2020 and our task is to collect medication from the health facility and deliver it to ART clients at home. We also take time to encourage clients to have their viral load checked on time.

 

“Viral load testing is done once every year for adults. At times clients forget to do so, we also follow up and remind them to have their Viral Load (VL) checked. We teach them on other issues relating to prevention like the consistent and correct use of condoms,” he said.

NAC, in collaboration with partners, have been implementing a number of Differentiated Service Delivery (DSD) programmes around the country.

Some of these models include Community ART Refill Groups (CARGs), Family Antiretroviral Refill Groups (FARGs), and the Out of Facility Community ART Distribution (OFCAD) among others.