Blessed Gérard's Hospice
runs a programme to provide
Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy (HAART)
for poor AIDS patients free of charge.

Statistics (as on 9 June 2015)
739are enrolled in our HAART programme
 713in the treatment phase (receiving ARV medication)
  44of these are children
  639of these are adults
 26in the pre-treatment phase
  21of these are being prepared for treatment initiation
  5of these are being monitored for later treatment initiation

Criteria of eligibility for our programme:

  1. You must be resident within the Mandeni municipality.
  2. You must be HIV-positive (We can test you!).
  3. You must have disclosed your status or be prepared to do so.
  4. You must be prepared to take the prescribed medication twice a day on every day of your life.

Blessed Gérard's Hospice HAART Programme comprises

  1. Voluntary Counselling and HIV-Testing (VCT)

    We offer free and confidential HIV Tests to the general public (including our own patients, staff and volunteers)

  2. HAART Readiness Courses

    Before starting a patient on the medication we ensure that the patient gets sufficient information to give his informed consent and to understand the vital importance of the antiretroviral treatment for him/her.

    The three modules of the HAART Readiness Course are:
    1. Stigma, Disclosure and Positive Living
    2. Basics of HIV and AIDS
    3. HIV and Antiretroviral treatment

  3. Antiretroviral Treatment

    We provide free Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Treatment as comprehensive medical care including regular medical examinations, blood monitoring, ongoing prevention or treatment of opportunistic infections, medical and psychosocial counselling and dispensing of the drugs.

  4. Adherence Monitoring


    Our Therapeutic Counsellors make monthly home visits of our patients on ARV-treatment to ensure that they adhere to the treatment and so to prevent treatment failure. This enables us to discover adverse drug reactions early and to prevent problems.

  5. Support Groups and Peer-Counselling

    We have several Support Groups where our HAART Patients meet voluntarily to encourage and support one another and prevent isolation.
    Some of the members were prepared to become peer counsellors for the adherence monitoring and we are about to give them the necessary training.

  6. Motivation and Income Generation

    Our Therapeutic Counsellors motivate and encourage our HAART patients to engage in income generating activities instead of expecting that their families or society would have to provide for them because they are sick.

 
"At the forefront of Anti-retroviral Therapy in South Africa".

An Interview of Vatican Radio with Father Gérard, broadcast on 21 October 2009
http://www.radiovaticana.org/en3/Articolo.asp?c=310727

For further information please visit:

Blessed Gérard’s Hospice HAART Programme - SACBC, CRSC & PEPFAR

Blessed Gérard's Hospice - HAART Programme - The Story of Qalile Uhlelo

Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard - Newsletter No. 24 - The Story of Ngapumelela Ngosizo

We built a new HAART Clinic as Extension to Blessed Gérard's Care Centre in 2007/2008.

Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard - Newsletter No. 27 - Feast of Life


This page is part of the Homepage of

Blessed Gérard's Hospice

A project of

Blessed Gérard's Care Centre
established by the
Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard

How YOU can help us to help
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This page was last updated on Tuesday, 09 June 2015 14:57:07