Health department urges 21 000 missing HIV/Aids patients to come forward
About 21 000 HIV/Aids patients in Mpumalanga have disappearing without a trace.
HIV/Aids patients who have stopped taking their treatment and disappeared without a trace have been urged to come forward and get assistance to prevent the spread of the virus.
This comes after it was recently revealed that more than 20 000 patients who tested positive in Mpumalanga discontinued treatment and disappeared without a trace.
Health Department tries to find missing HIV patients
Speaking to The Citizen on Friday, Department of Health spokesperson Foster Mohale said: 'There are many people who tested positive for HIV, but never continue with lifesaving ARVs, hence we have recently launched a campaign to find 1.1 million of them and put them in treatment by 31 December 2025.
'I can confirm that so far, we have already reached 520 700 and initiated treatment, which includes women, men and children. This is more than 50% of the target we set ourselves to reach by the end of the year.'
ALSO READ: Mpumalanga silent on 21 000 missing HIV patients
Be that as it may, Mohale said the campaign was not solely about finding the missing HIV patients. Still, the country's efforts to reach a target of 95% of HIV-positive people knowing their status includes putting those infected on treatment to avoid further infection.
Why patients stop their HIV/Aids treatment
Addressing the problem last year, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said some of the patients discontinued their treatment because they were annoyed that they had to collect their medication every three months, instead of being given medication for six months. Some patients also blamed the clinics.
'Many have started on treatment and then stopped because of the poor conditions and unwelcoming environment in clinics,' said the TAC's Morongwa Ntini.
ALSO READ: Groundbreaking HIV trial shows patients can control virus without ART
Ntini said offering a six-month plan will motivate patients to stay on treatment as there will be no need for them to visit clinics as often, while the clinic staff will not have to deal with long queues.
In Mpumalanga, it recently transpired that more than 20,000 patients who tested positive discontinued treatment and disappeared without a trace.
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Health department urges 21 000 missing HIV/Aids patients to come forward
About 21 000 HIV/Aids patients in Mpumalanga have disappearing without a trace. HIV/Aids patients who have stopped taking their treatment and disappeared without a trace have been urged to come forward and get assistance to prevent the spread of the virus. This comes after it was recently revealed that more than 20 000 patients who tested positive in Mpumalanga discontinued treatment and disappeared without a trace. Health Department tries to find missing HIV patients Speaking to The Citizen on Friday, Department of Health spokesperson Foster Mohale said: 'There are many people who tested positive for HIV, but never continue with lifesaving ARVs, hence we have recently launched a campaign to find 1.1 million of them and put them in treatment by 31 December 2025. 'I can confirm that so far, we have already reached 520 700 and initiated treatment, which includes women, men and children. This is more than 50% of the target we set ourselves to reach by the end of the year.' ALSO READ: Mpumalanga silent on 21 000 missing HIV patients Be that as it may, Mohale said the campaign was not solely about finding the missing HIV patients. Still, the country's efforts to reach a target of 95% of HIV-positive people knowing their status includes putting those infected on treatment to avoid further infection. Why patients stop their HIV/Aids treatment Addressing the problem last year, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said some of the patients discontinued their treatment because they were annoyed that they had to collect their medication every three months, instead of being given medication for six months. Some patients also blamed the clinics. 'Many have started on treatment and then stopped because of the poor conditions and unwelcoming environment in clinics,' said the TAC's Morongwa Ntini. ALSO READ: Groundbreaking HIV trial shows patients can control virus without ART Ntini said offering a six-month plan will motivate patients to stay on treatment as there will be no need for them to visit clinics as often, while the clinic staff will not have to deal with long queues. In Mpumalanga, it recently transpired that more than 20,000 patients who tested positive discontinued treatment and disappeared without a trace.
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'His name is Cleiton,' she adds. 'He's eight years old.' Many other children have already perished. A 20-minute drive from Tica is the settlement of Mutua, in the Dondo district. There, activist Carlota Francisco says: 'During this pause, we had cases [of children] that were really critical that ended up losing their lives.' One of them was a two-year-old girl under her care. 'That child depended on me,' says Francisco, who explains that she would fetch and provide the girl's ARVs. After she stopped, she says the girl's caregivers failed to give her the correct dosages. The two-year-old died shortly thereafter. Stories such as this were repeated in almost every village that we visited. Often, children or their caregivers attempted to get the medication without the activists. But many of the hospitals were in a state of chaos because USAid-funded health workers and data capturers had been laid off. 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Without that help, their condition worsened, and some died.' This forms part of an issue that extends far beyond the district of Buzi. In the Sofala capital of Beira, I sat down with some of the province's senior health officials. The HIV supervisor for the province, Manuel Seco, provided data on the HIV response in Sofala, before and after the cuts. Between May and December of 2024, the total number of people on ARVs in the province had risen by more than 20,000 people, the data shows. This increase occurred steadily, rising by 500 to 5,000 people each month. But as soon as the cuts were made, this progress was halted and the trend reversed. Since January, the number of people on ARV treatment has been falling by hundreds of people each month. The reason, according to Seco, is that many people who were on ARVs have stopped their treatment, while new ARV initiations have dropped sharply. And the impact extends far beyond just the HIV response. TB left untreated Buried within a compound owned by Tongaat Hulett is a government hospital that services the rural population of Mafambisse, in Dondo district. Joaquim Mupanguiua, who deals with TB at the hospital, says that after the activists were laid off, the hospital saw a steep decline in the number of TB patients coming to the facility. 'Only when they are already very ill do they come to the health unit,' he says. 'But with the activists they would easily go to the communities and find the sick.' The number of patients coming to the hospital is roughly a third of what it once was: 'We used to get around 28 to 30 [TB] patients per month, but now we're down to fewer than 10,' Mupanguiua notes. Because patients come to the hospital when they're already severely ill, there's significantly less that health facilities can do for them. It's thus no surprise that Mupanguiua believes that there has been an uptick in needless TB deaths. Finding other ways Back in the Buzi district office, Gemo says that efforts have been made to assist terminal patients who had previously been supported by activists, but there are so many people in need that they aren't able to help everyone. Activists often said something similar — they continue to visit their beneficiaries when they can, they say, but without ComuSanas sponsoring their transport costs, many struggle to visit children in remote areas. And the loss of their income with the programme means that they now need to spend their days finding other ways to survive — subsistence farming and street markets are the usual routes. But this work rarely offers the kind of regular income that ComuSanas was providing. 'Honestly, buying notebooks, pens and clothes for my children has become very difficult,' says Dondo-based activist Brito Balao. Meanwhile, in Tica, activists asked how they could provide food to their former beneficiaries when they are themselves going hungry. Despite this, the activists still live within the same villages as their beneficiaries. And so unlike those in Washington, they cannot withdraw their support without facing the resentment or desperation of their communities. 'We work with love, and we get really sad not being able to be there for those kids,' says one Mutua-based activist. 'There's even another family that cried today [when they saw me]. 'You've been away for a while,' they said. Gosh, we feel bad.' Among former beneficiaries of the programme the sense of abandonment was palpable, and their anger was often directed at the former activists. This was often compounded by the fact that no one had explained to them why the programme had stopped. In the village of Nharuchonga, Joana explains that in the past her activist, Fatima, would always come and ensure that her daughter took her ARVs. Now that Fatima has stopped coming, her daughter doesn't always take the medication, she says. (Fatima is present during this conversation.) 'We've been abandoned by Fatima,' she states, looking directly away from the former activist. 'Until now we have been too shy to ask why she has abandoned us.' In many other cases, the tone was simply one of sadness. Back in Tica, inside an outdoor kitchen made of corrugated iron sheets, Maria holds her five-year-old granddaughter Teresa. Despite facing hunger at various points over recent years, she cooks sweet potatoes above a small fire, and insists that everyone eats. Both of Teresa's parents died of Aids, says Maria. It has been left to her to raise the child, while trying to grow rice and maize for subsistence — an effort hampered by frequent drought. For a long time Maria has had help with this parental role, she says. Activist Marta Jofulande had been assisting her family and acting like a mother to the child. But since the programme was terminated, they don't see much of Jofulande anymore. Instead, five-year-old Teresa has been forced to deal with the exit of yet another parental figure. DM A note on quotes: Most of our interviews were in Portuguese and were mediated by a local translator. We subsequently transcribed and translated the recordings of these interviews using AI-based software, including Descript and ChatGPT. Where there was a significant mismatch between the interpretations of the translator and the software, we contacted the interviewee or got third parties to help translate the recordings. The cost of travel, accommodation and the journalist's remuneration was shared between GroundUp and Spotlight. Part two will be published next week.
