Maseru, Lesotho – The Botshabelo Clinic’s tuberculosis (TB) ward fills up around 8 a.m. Just as the room is about to overflow, the television comes on airing a video about TB co-infection with HIV/AIDS.
The video urges patients to get tested for HIV/AIDS. The vast majority of the audience agrees and test positive. This confirms statistics showing that some 76 percent of TB patients are also HIV-positive.
This knowledge this helps doctors prescribe a more effective treatment, said Dr. Hind Sati, TB program coordinator with USAID’s Regional HIV/AIDS Project (RHAP).
“Because of the co-infection, a lot of patients will die of HIV/AIDS before they are done with TB drugs,” she said. “But now we can catch it and refer them to ARV [anti-retroviral] drugs.”
A $10 million USAID project that aims to strengthen Lesotho’s ability to cope with TB helped Botshabelo become the first TB clinic in the country to test and counsel for HIV/AIDS.
The TB ward now refers patients to the neighboring HIV/AIDS ward to test CD4 counts, which indicate the weakness of a patient’s immune system. High CD4 counts only require monitoring until the count drops. Low CD4 counts require immediate ARV treatment.
“The TB component is a large part of USAID’s HIV/AIDS program here,” said Joan Atkinson, Lesotho’s RHAP coordinator.
Lesotho has the world’s second highest prevalence of TB, and 24 percent of its 2.2 million people are infected with the HIV/AIDS virus.
After starting at Botshabelo in fall 2005, RHAP extended HIV/AIDS testing and counseling services to 19 clinics nationwide.
Now the project is helping Botshabelo explore the possibility of procuring a small on-site microscopic laboratory that would allow for prompt test results. Currently three days are required for results to be produced.
RHAP is also providing technical advice to Lesotho’s Ministry of Health’s TB program. They are introducing a recording and tracking system, and offering training support to nurses, doctors, and the ministry’s TB coordinators. Lesotho is developing a national TB strategy with USAID assistance and funding from the U.S President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
