HIV Treatment in Resource-Limited Settings: Call for Information

by John S. James

Summary: AIDS Treatment News needs fact sheets for people with HIV in resource-limited settings, such as developing countries, where many drugs and tests commonly used in rich countries are not available. Despite vast geographical and political differences in treatment and access, some critically important background and suggestions can be provided to people directly, or for local experts and organizations to change as they wish. We are asking readers for advice on what has proved useful.

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AIDS Treatment News gets email requests for information about treatment options in developing countries around the world -- from patients, family members or friends, and organizations. We need something useful to send to people who know or suspect that they have HIV infection. But little has been written for them. Perhaps our readers could suggest material that has been found helpful, or could help us in writing new fact sheets if necessary.

Of course access to care will vary greatly in different countries. But many people will want to know about

how to find programs that provide treatment (including Global Fund and PEPFAR, MSF, the Red Cross, other private organizations, religious clinics and hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, employers, the national government in some cases, and others) -- what they may offer, and how to find out about or contact them;
how well-informed physicians provide care when many of the tests and drugs used in rich countries are not available;
what else is involved in HIV care besides antiretrovirals, and the fact that some patients will not need to use those drugs at this time;
preventing pneumocystis and some other infections with cotrimoxazole, inexpensive and recommended by the World Health Organization for several years but still not widely used (more evidence favoring it has been published recently);
tuberculosis and HIV;
special considerations when treating HIV in children;
where to find more information, including brief fact sheets for patients and the public, and treatment materials primarily for medical professionals -- and where to find information in different languages;
how to prevent transmission to others, and how those who are not infected can protect themselves;
ways to help deal with stigma; and
what is happening worldwide in treatment access, prevention of new infections, and other means to control the epidemic -- and what needs to happen, and how individuals could join with others to help.

Here are a few of the documents we have found so far:

TAC's Treatment Literacy campaign in South Africa,
http://www.tac.org.za/ (select "Treatment Literacy" in column on left);
Fact sheets being prepared by the AIDS Alliance in India,
http://www.aidsalliance.org/sw19588.asp
Fact sheets from the New Mexico AIDS Infonet (also available in Spanish, and sometimes in other languages),
http://www.aidsinfonet.org
Extensive training materials for medical professionals through GALEN (Global AIDS Learning and Evaluation Network) and the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC),
http://www.iapac.org/home.asp?pid=184
Of course the World Health Organization and other international agencies have relevant information, but it is seldom written for patients or their family members or friends. And any group that is providing treatment in resource-limited settings will have information, but it may be hard to find online, as their Web sites are usually written for the general public and other potential funders.

If you have suggestions or recommendations for this project, send them to AIDS Treatment News, aidsnews@aidsnews.org (start the subject line with "globaltx" without the quotation marks to help bypass spam control -- although we should get your message in any case).

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