Pretoria - The regulator of the pharmacy profession in the country, the South African Pharmacy Council, welcomed the decision of the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria last week in relation to the legality, rationality and necessity of Pharmacist-Initiated Management of Antiretroviral Therapy (Pimart).
The judgment means that expanded HIV and Aids treatment will soon be a reality for many more people.
South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV worldwide.
“The court confirmed what has been our long-held view that Pimart is a necessary and competently designed intervention programme to support South Africa’s efforts in providing access to patients diagnosed with HIV and Aids,” SA Pharmacy Council said.
It explained that Pimart increases access to much-needed HIV prevention and treatment care, with an immediate benefit of improved quality of life and increased life expectancy for more persons living with HIV and Aids.
It will also improve efficiencies in the congested health-care system. Diagnosed patients now have the opportunity to be initiated sooner within the multidisciplinary health-care team, which includes pharmacists.
Pimart remains an appropriate intervention to support the existing treatment and prevention mechanisms for HIV and Aids. 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, the pharmacy authority said.
The nation’s plan, and the Joint UN programme on HIV/Aids’ 95-95-95 strategy, is to ensure that 95% of persons living with HIV and Aids are aware of their status.
As from this week, pharmacists would join other primary healthcare practitioners in providing primary care in relation to HIV and Aids. This includes the provision of first-line antiretroviral treatment, as well as HIV testing and prevention services.
The Pimart programme is designed to foster collaboration with other health-care professionals in the provision of HIV care aimed at increasing accessibility to prevention and treatment along national guidelines.
Pimart’s implementation further accelerates the attainment of the commitment made by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 to place 2 million more HIV-positive persons on treatment in the medium term
Pretoria News