THE Ministry of Health and Child Care has started rolling
out Dolutegravir (DTG), a new antiretroviral drug which is more effective in
viral suppression and has fewer side effects.
New HIV patients were the first to benefit from the
nationwide roll out which started in September this year.
Dolutegravir is an antiretroviral drug used to treat HIV
infection and is more tolerable to patients, meaning it has lesser side effects
compared to other ARVs. It is used as part of combination therapy for the
treatment of HIV and works by reducing the ability of the virus to make copies of
itself.
HIV, Aids and TB director in the Ministry Dr Owen Mugurungi
said all eligible HIV positive patients were now able to access DTG effective
from November this year.
About 1,4 million people are living with HIV in Zimbabwe
and statistics show that 90 percent are on treatment
I can confirm that we have started rolling out DTG and the
medicines have started coming in. We started in September and in October when
we were rolling it out to new clients, those who would have tested HIV positive
for the first time,” said Dr Mugurungi.
“Effective from November 1 this year, we will then start
rolling it out to patients who are already receiving medication and we will
take into cognisance the viral load so the medication is effective.”
He said clients who qualify for DTG will be those who have
been responding well to medication.
“We will switch
clients whose viral load is undetectable or repressed so that the medication
works. We will also consider those people whose viral load was at any point undetectable
in the past six months hence we encourage people who haven’t gone for viral
load screening to go for such services,” said Dr Mugurungi.
He said the switching process will not be compulsory.
“The process will not be mandatory as people are free to
say they do not want DTG. However, through support from media we would like
members of the public to know that DTG is a new drug which has been proven to
be highly effective in suppressing HIV hence they are free to switch to it,”
said Dr Mugurungi.
He said said the roll out would be in all sectors and
facilities where people are able to do a viral load screening.
Viral suppression is the ability to prevent the HIV virus
from multiplying in the body and Zimbabwe has a target to ensure that 90
percent of people living with HIV achieve that by 2020. Chronicle
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