David Coetzee|Katherine Hildebrand|Andrew Boulle|Gary Maartens|Françoise Louis|Veliswa Labatala|Hermann Reuter|Nonthutuzelo Ntwana|Eric Goemaere
Outcomes after two years of providing antiretroviral treatment in Khayelitsha, South Africa
University of Cape Town|Médecins Sans Frontières|Médecins Sans Frontières|Médecins Sans Frontières|Médecins Sans Frontières|Médecins Sans Frontières
communitybased antiretroviral therapy art programme established 2001 south african township explore operational issues involved providing art public sector resourcelimited settings demonstrate feasibility servicedata analysed cohort patients symptomatic hiv disease cd4 lymphocyte count 200 x 10 cellsl programme used standardized protocols using generic medicines whenever possible teamapproach clinical care patientcentred approach promote adherencetwohundred eightyseven adults naive prior art followed median duration 139 months median cd4 lymphocyte count 43 x 10 cellsl initiation treatment mean log10 hiv rna 518 copiesml hiv rna level undetectable 400 copiesml 881 892 842 750 697 patients 3 6 12 18 24 months respectively cumulative probability remaining alive 863 24 months treatment patients 914 baseline cd4 lymphocyte count 50 x 10 cellsl 818 baseline cd4 lymphocyte count 50 x 10 cellsl cumulative probability changing single antiretroviral drug 24 months 151 due adverse events contraindications 84 due adverse events aloneart provided resourcelimited settings good patient retention clinical outcomes responsible implementation art key component comprehensive response epidemic communities affected hiv