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Lesotho

Lesotho

International Activity Report, 2007 With 23.2 percent of its adult population infected with HIV, lesotho has the third highest HIV prevalence in the world after Swaziland and Botswana. Approximately 23,000 people die of AIDS-related causes each year. tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death among people with HIV/AIDS in lesotho, more than 90 percent of TB patients are co-infected with HIV. After 18 months in the country, MSF has provided anti-retroviral therapy (ART) for approximately 1,500 people in Scott Hospital Health Service Area, a rural health district with one hospital and 14 primary care clinics that serve a population of 220,000, 35,000 of whom are estimated to have HIV/AIDS. MSF works with hospital management and...
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Global Fund cuts spell more AIDS deaths, more HIV infections, & rationing lifesaving treatment

25 November 2011
South Africa’s Budget Expenditure Monitoring Forum warns *NOTE: The Budget Expenditure Monitoring Forum [BEMF] is a group of civil society organisations concerned with HIV/AIDS funding in South Africa and the Southern African region. BEMF includes SECTION27, the Treatment Action Campaign, Médecins Sans Frontières South Africa, the Centre for Economic Governance and AIDS in Africa, the Free State AIDS Coalition and World Vision.   JOHANNESBURG –The shock announcement by the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria that financial shortfalls forced the cancellation of its Round 11 of new grants threatens to run back the clock on the gains made in the fight against HIV. The Global Fund financial...
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HIV Global Fund: an interview with Dr Unni Karunakara

30 November 2011
antiretroviral treatment
Lusikisiki, South Africa. Patient taking her antiretroviral treatment
In a move that could have a profound impact on patients in developing countries, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria has announced it won’t be accepting any grant applications this year to support treatment programmes because of a catastrophic drop in donor funding.  MSF international president, Dr Unni Karunakara The Global Fund, financed largely by governments, was set up ten years ago as a ‘war chest’ to fight the spiralling AIDS pandemic and tackle malaria and TB, the other two infectious diseases that claim millions of lives each year in developing countries. In many countries, MSF works alongside the national health authorities who rely on Global Fund support to...
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MSF Report: Fragile progress as several countries upgrade to better AIDS treatment

11 May 2011
Top Donor Countries Oppose Crucial Treatment Target Ahead of UN AIDS Summit   New York, 11 May 2011– A report released today by the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) revealed that several countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic are improving HIV treatment to reduce deaths and illness – but a lack of support from donors prevents many from making vital changes.  This fragile progress needs sustained support, but the two biggest AIDS donors, the US and UK, are opposing a critical HIV treatment target ahead of next month’s AIDS Summit in New York at a time when mounting evidence shows that HIV treatment can also prevent HIV infections.   “Our...
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Patient story: Mahlomola Panyane -“I want to help other people to know their HIV and TB status before they become weak and ill.”

24 March 2010
Patient story: Mahlomola Panyane -“I want to help other people to know their HIV
Patient story: Mahlomola Panyane -“I want to help other people to know their HIV and TB status before they become weak and ill.”
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) HIV/AIDS programme SELIBENG SA TŠEPO in Lesotho also relies on lay counsellors to ensure its effectiveness. Lay counsellors are committed community members and most often co-infected or HIV patients, who are trained to undertake non-medical tasks and responsibilities usually done by a nurse or a doctor and are devoted to helping fellow patients in their villages. They are an integral part of the programme and ensure patients adhere to treatment through regular counselling and by providing step-by-step guidance on taking the life-saving medication. But each one of the counsellors has their own story to tell. Mahlomola Panyane, 33, of Sechaba village of Lesotho,...
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SELIBENG SA TŠEPO: How the people of a mountain kingdom haunted by TB/HIV have found a wellspring of hope

24 March 2010
SELIBENG SA TŠEPO: How the people of a mountain kingdom haunted by TB/HIV have f
SELIBENG SA TŠEPO: How the people of a mountain kingdom haunted by TB/HIV have found a wellspring of hope
The sound of coughing fills the short passageway outside the female ward of Scott Hospital in Morija, Lesotho. Apart from the nursing staff here in the ward there are no visitors among the neat row of beds. The beautiful landscape of majestically rising mountains and mottled green fields is visible through the windows, but the patients in this ward are all in a serious condition, suffering from tuberculosis (TB) – the number one cause of death of people living with HIV in Lesotho. Mampho Ratsetse, 57 year old woman, co-infected with HIV and Tuberculosis was admitted in Scott Hospital. Photo: Zethu Mlobeli/MSF Mampho Ratsese, aged 57, is one of the co-infected with TB and HIV patients in ward and one of the most recent patients...
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The daring hope of a 13-year-old girl living with HIV and TB

24 March 2010
The daring hope of a 13-year-old girl living with HIV and TB
The daring hope of a 13-year-old girl living with HIV and TB
At 13 years old Tsepang Robis, from the Mofoka village in rural Lesotho, is HIV positive and has successfully finished her six month treatment for tuberculosis (TB), thanks to her doting grandfather. But with each day she lives positively, his days with her grow fewer... Tsepang playing a game with other HIV positive kids at the children support session with MSF counselling group. Photo: Zethu Mlobeli/MSF At the age of 82, Solo Robis has seen the ebb and flow of life and death in the small village of Mofoka in rural Lesotho. But a worry still weighs on him: How can he ensure HIV/AIDS and TB does not become a death sentence for his bright young granddaughter Tsepang, like it has for so many other villagers?   Tsepang was...
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Taking on TB in Lesotho amid a crushing HIV/AIDS epidemic

24 March 2010
Taking on TB in Lesotho amid a crushing HIV/AIDS epidemic
Taking on TB in Lesotho amid a crushing HIV/AIDS epidemic
Dr. Laura Trivino Duran is the Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Tuberculosis Programme Focal Point for MSF’s HIV/AIDS programme in Lesotho. She is based in Morija, and works mainly in Scott Hospital and its 14-area clinics that serve about 200,000 people, amongst whom an estimated 35,000 are living with HIV/AIDS. Back in Spain, Laura’s home country, she is a general practitioner. Before working in Lesotho, she worked with MSF in Uganda and Zambia. Dr Laura Trivino. Lesotho has the third highest HIV prevalence in the world and the fourth highest tuberculosis incidence worldwide. Photo: Zethu Mlobeli/MSF   What does your day usually look like? I start my day by...
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ARV outcomes from a nurse-driven, community-supported HIV/AIDS treatment programme in rural Lesotho

01 October 2009
ARV outcomes from a nurse-driven, community-supported HIV/AIDS treatment program
ARV outcomes from a nurse-driven, community-supported HIV/AIDS treatment programme in rural Lesotho
October 2009, Journal of the International AIDS Society 2009, 12:23
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HELP WANTED! Confronting the health care worker crisis to expand access to HIV/AIDS treatment

03 May 2006
HELP WANTED! Confronting the health care worker crisis to expand access to HIV/A
HELP WANTED! Confronting the health care worker crisis to expand access to HIV/AIDS treatment
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) began providing antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2000 and has today reached over 80,000 people in more than 30 countries. However, efforts to further increase access to treatment and maintain and improve quality of care are coming up against a wall due to the severe shortage of health workers. This is contributing to unnecessary illness and death.
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by Dr. Radut.