Limited accces to drugs expose HIV patients to risks Widowed and a mother of three, Clair Nyiragicari (not her real name), has been HIV positive for 15 years now.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country, Ms Nyiragicari, who lives in Mageragere in Nyarugenge District, could easily access her antiretroviral therapy drugs (ARVs).

As a registered patient at the Butare University Teaching Hospital (CHUB), she would pick up her drugs every two months because she didn’t want her relatives and friends to know her status.

But with the economic challenges brought about by the pandemic, the 45-year-old says she cannot afford the doubled fare on buses coupled with fear to visit the facility for fear of contracting the coronavirus, which could complicate her condition.

She also cannot afford a mask, which is now mandatory when out in public. She is among hundreds of people living with HIV who are avoiding visiting local health facilities to collect their drugs for fear of contracting Covid-19.

“You know, people living with HIV are more at risk of suffering the adverse effects of Covid-19,” the mother of four added.

Mr Patience Karimba, another person living with HIV who resides in Kigali told Rwanda Today that he used to get his drugs from Rusizi District in the Western Province but during the lockdown in Rusizi, he was forced to sus-pend the treatment.

He, however, says that when he contacted the hospital in Rusizi to express his difficulty to access the antiretroviral therapy drugs, they linked him to the health worker at the University Teaching Hospital who assisted him to get the drugs in Kigali.

“Due to the stigma many people especially the youth, professionals, artists, and celebrities choose to get their drugs from far end provinces where they are certain that there are no people who know them,” said Mr Karimba.

“Many of them have had to suspend the treatment due to movement challenges, financial constraints, and some places which are inaccessible because they are still under the lockdown,” he said, adding, “Imagine the situation of someone who used to get the therapy from places which have since April were and currently still under the lockdown?”

Home delivery

Mr Karimba added that there is need for the government intervention to either allow people to access the therapy drugs from the nearest hospitals, health centres and post centres or consider home delivery of drugs as was recently done on people with cancer without difficulties like transfers to hospitals where they are registered.

Odette Nyiramucyo, Project Officer at Rwanda Network of People Living with HIV (RRP+), said though some people are hesitant visit the nearest hospitals for drugs due to stigma, the difficulties which they used to encounter while accessing drugs have been reduced.

“Before the pandemic, most of our members used to complain about transfers to other hospitals especially when the drugs they used were not available but now they able to get drugs from all hospitals close to them,”

“We cannot say that every person living with HIV have easy access to the drugs without hindrances but at least the situation has been eased not like during the total lockdown,” said Nyiramucyo.

“We are now connecting our members with the nearest hospitals, especially those who used to acquire drugs from far ends without having to ask them other details of where they used to the drugs,”

“We have also noticed that there are people who cannot go the hospital, health centre or meet a health worker in their residence for the drugs, now they are required to choose the preferred place to get the drugs and they are taken there without considering how far or difficult to reach the place,” she said.