Disabled with HIV sidelined
PEOPLE with disabilities are often left out of HIV programmes even though they are disproportionately at risk.
Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) activists say that unless this is addressed, South Africa will struggle to reach the 90-90-90 target set by UNAids.
The idea is that by 2020, 90% of people who are HIV infected will be diagnosed; 90% of people who are diagnosed will be on antiretroviral treatment; and 90% of those who receive antiretrovirals will be virally suppressed.
Rosemary Brown is one of the researchers on the HPTN 071 (PopART) study, a randomised trial evaluating an HIV prevention package in 21 communities in Zambia and South Africa.
Brown told the 8th National Aids Conference, at the Durban International Convention Centre, that the study had shown that people living with disabilities were at higher risk of acquiring HIV.
The reason for this, she said, was that “few HIV programmes sufficiently address the needs of people with disabilities”.
Researchers also maintain that access to HIV testing and treatment services is often challenging for people with disabilities.
“The scale-up of HIV testing and treatment services for people with disabilities requires decentralisation through community-based services,” Brown said.
The TAC’s Portia Serote said children in informal settlements who lived with disabilities and were unable to attend school were also missing out on vaccinations against the human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer.
“Those children are at risk of being raped. They are therefore vulnerable to all kinds of diseases, but they are the ones always left out of HIV programmes,” said Serote. – Health-e News