ARVs are available, health minister assures emaSwati

By Sifiso Sibandze

The health minister has assured emaSwati that the country is not facing a shortage of antiretrovirals (ARVs).

This comes as information has been circulating on social media that there is an unavailability of ARVs in the country. Minister Lizzie Nkosi has labelled this as misinformation.

“The claims of ARV shortages are misleading the nation and are meant to cause panic among the over 200 000 people benefitting from this service,” Nkosi said.

The minister went on to say that misleading reports also allege that the ministry is focusing on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP), “which is totally false since PREP only covers a few clients compared to those on ART.”

Nkosi clarified that the real issue is that the country’s ART programme has introduced some changes to the ARV treatment regimen. “This transition process is ongoing and involves the introduction of a new ARV 2 regimen to replace the older one. The decision was based on WHO guidelines, which recommended the newer ARV regimen is more effective in suppressing the virus in those who use it,” she said.

The minister went on to say that the change to the new ARV regimen has resulted in some patients not being comfortable and thus requesting a shift back to the older ARV regimen. According to Nkosi, this has destabilised stock levels as procurement of medicines was done based on a higher number of patients being on the new fixed-dose ARV regimen.

“Therefore, patients who are using the older ARV regimen are now being given separate pills until the newer stock of the fixed-dose older regimen is delivered. The Nation is assured that using separate ARV pills is not different from the fixed-dose regimen in terms of the ability of the medication to suppress the HIV in their bodies. The Ministry acknowledges the inconvenience to patients and would like to assure them that this problem will be rectified soon,” the minister said.

Nkosi then pleaded for patience among patients, especially those who have previously been on a 3-month and 6-month refill arrangement.

“Patients are requested to seek clarification from their healthcare providers in case of any misunderstanding pertaining to their HIV treatment. The government is committed to combatting the HIV and AIDS pandemic and from the introduction of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) has made continuous improvements in the number of people enrolled and retained on treatment,” she said.

The minister said the ministry and development partners have continued to implement surveillance, assessments and monitoring and evaluation to track their progress.

“The recent Eswatini Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (SHIMS3) conducted from May to November 2021 showed that 93.7 per cent of adults (aged 15 years and older) living with HIV are aware of their HIV-positive status, of that 97.3 per cent are on treatment and 96.2 per cent of those had suppressed viral loads,” she disclosed.

To ensure that ARVs are continuously available, the minister said the funds for procurement of ARVs are ring-fenced and can only be used for procurement of ARVs.

“We ensure that there is stock to cover the needs for 4 – 7 months and additionally we have financial backup support from the Global Fund and PEPFAR, the only organisations that have this arrangement,” she said.