Group Issues Treatment Guidelines For HIV-Positive People Displaced By Recent Violence In Kenya

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 10 Jan 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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The Academic Model for the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS, or AMPATH, recently issued treatment guidelines for people living with HIV/AIDS who have been displaced by postelection violence in Kenya, the Nation/AllAfrica.com reports (Macharia, Nation/AllAfrica.com, 1/8). The political and tribal violence broke out after Kenya's president Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner over Raila Odinga, the opposition presidential candidate, by a narrow margin earlier this month.

Miriam Were, chair of Kenya's National AIDS Control Council, last week warned that widespread sexual assaults during the violence in the country likely will reverse gains made in the fight against HIV/AIDS (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/3). In response, AMPATH -- which runs clinics that provide access to treatment in the North Rift, Western and Nyanza regions of Kenya -- issued guidelines to its clients on how to continue accessing treatment, the Nation/AllAfrica.com reports (Nation/AllAfrica.com, 1/8). AMPATH is a program developed by the Indiana University School of Medicine and Moi University that provides care to about 52,000 HIV-positive people in Kenya (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/21/07).

The group in a statement said that HIV-positive people who receive treatment from an AMPATH clinic are "advised to take your clinic card or empty bottle ... to any AMPATH site or Ministry of Health clinic that offers HIV/AIDS care for supply." It added that if a person is in a situation where access to HIV/AIDS care is not available, "it is important to stop all HIV/AIDS medication at the same time to avoid drug resistance." The group also advised clients who have no identification records with the organization to visit any AMPATH or government clinic for treatment (Nation/AllAfrica.com, 1/8).

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