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+--- Thread: North West trains more nurses to administer ARVs (/Thread-North-West-trains-more-nurses-to-administer-ARVs)
North West trains more nurses to administer ARVs - Newsroom - 29-11-2013
With more people now receiving antiretroviral treatment, the North West Department of Health has trained more nurses to get HIV positive patients started on treatment.
About 1 500 nurses are attending the Nurse Initiation and Maintenance of Antiretroviral Therapy (NIMART) training, with a total of 100 so far having completed training.
During training, nurses are mentored by District Clinical Specialist Teams and District Family Physicians. Doctors now initiate high risk HIV positive people on antiretroviral therapy, while competent nurses are able to initiate low risk patients.
Initially, the process was doctor driven. However, following bold and life changing HIV and Aids policies by President Jacob Zuma in 2009, more nurses had to be trained as more people qualified to be put on treatment.
The new policy stipulates that people infected with TB and HIV and Aids receive ARV treatment when their CD4 count is at 350 or less. Prior to HIV policy change, treatment was only available when one's CD4 count was less than 200.
The Provincial Health Department said that eight months following the introduction of new Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) antiretroviral, the department is now ready to switch patients on old treatment to FDC.
“However, patients will only be switched to one ARV pill a day after they have been assessed by a clinician, as some of HIV persons may not be able to take the one ARV pill due to their medical condition,†the department noted.
The new pill is a combination of all three antiretroviral pills - emtricitabine, efavirenz and tenofovir. It is being administered to all newly diagnosed patients that are eligible to be put on ARV treatment, pregnant women and HIV positive breastfeeding mothers.
The pill is easy to take, highly effective with fewer or no side effects and it is in no way inferior to taking three individual drugs.
The North West province is currently providing antiretroviral treatment to close to 190 000 HIV positive persons. All health facilities in the North West provide antiretroviral treatment.
Health MEC Dr Magome Masike will today present competency certificates to 100 nurses who have completed NIMART training during a ceremony at Mmabatho Convention Centre. – SAnews.gov.za