Our work with HIV/AIDS

HIV Clinic

The clinic was set up by the JCRC and is run by a doctor and a laboratory technologist, with the help of other hospital medical staff, including clinical officers, nurses, a dispenser and counselors. The work is supported by visits from the Elizabeth Glaser Aids Foundation, a community based project. Both JCRC and Ministry of Health clients are cared for, with about 220 currently on ART and about 500 on general care.
Adherence
The clinic initially enjoyed an adherence of over 95% for all clients. But recent data has showed a marked drop. Adherence can be affected by the following factors:

Travel

Patients have to travel very long distances to get to the clinic. This is not only time consuming, but expensive, with transport costs worsening recently due to problems with fuel supply.

Diet

Some people who are poor choose not to take the drugs, because they make them weak. Many appreciated food supplements, received last year, but a continued supply is needed. Opportunistic infection drugs (OI drugs) eg. Septrin, Iron tabs, multivitamin vitamins, amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin, are used, but stocks sometimes run out.

Lack of local community support groups
Some areas are supported by Compassion International (e.g projects at Kaswa and Burunga). Patients receive home-based care, refunds of transport costs (to and from the clinic), and hospital bills (for those that are admitted). Unfortunately, the worse hit areas are very far from such support.