This week’s high court ruling upholding the right of suitably qualified pharmacists to provide HIV treatment will offer patients more options and boost SA’s chances of attaining the ambitious UN targets set for 2025, the SA Pharmacy Council (SAPC) said on Thursday.
SA has committed to the 95-95-95 targets aimed at ensuring that 95% of people with HIV know their status, 95% diagnosed with HIV get antiretroviral treatmen, and 95% of those being treated achieve viral suppression, reducing the risk of transmitting the virus.
SA has the world’s heaviest HIV burden. While it is broadly on track for the first target, a significant number of HIV-positive people who know their status are still not on treatment.
Health Minister Joe Phaahla said at the 11th SA AIDS Conference in June that 94% of people with HIV in SA knew their status, but only 77% were on antiretroviral treatment.
Pharmacist-Initiated Management of Antiretroviral Therapy (Pimart) was approved by the Pharmacy Council in 2021, but its implementation was put on hold by the legal challenge of the Independent Practitioners Association (IPA), which represents doctors. The IPA said pharmacists were encroaching on the domain of doctors and asked the Pretoria high court to scrap the pharmacy council’s decision to introduce Pimart into the scope of practice of suitably trained pharmacists.
Judge Elmarie van der Schyff dismissed the IPA challenge on Monday, opening the way for pharmacists to prescribe antiretroviral therapy for people with HIV, to protect people from acquiring the virus; or as post-exposure prophylaxis.
“The court confirmed... our long-held view that Pimart is a necessary and competently designed intervention... to support SA’s efforts in providing access to patients diagnosed with HIV and Aids,” said SAPC president Mogologolo Phasha.
“Pimart would help reach a large number of underserved, undertested and hard-to-reach populations, who are currently without access to HIV prevention and treatment services,” he told reporters. About 900 pharmacists, representing 5% of those registered in SA, had received Pimart training, he said.
University of Pretoria pharmacologist Natalie Schellack said SA had an estimated 8.2-million people with HIV, and there were about 200,000 new infections a year. “While SA has made great strides in the provision of treatment, with more than 5-million people on treatment, Pimart increases the country’s ability to reach more of the unreached and untested people,” she said.
Men and adolescents faced challenges in accessing HIV-testing and treatment, and Pimart had the potential to provide them with a less stigmatising environment in which to seek care, she said.
kahnt@businesslive.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.