A review of the South African Anti-retroviral Treatment Programme

Abstract

South Africa has almost 3.4 million people on treatment, more than any other country in the world 2. Scale up of antiretroviral therapy globally and locally has surpassed expectations. Global coverage of antiretroviral therapy reached 46% at the end of 2015 3. In September 2015, The World Health Organisation called for international guideline changes introducing the concept of “Test and Treat”. Based on significant research trends and experimental evidence, this new approach which encourages universal testing and treating of all HIV positive individuals is set to be the net game changer in the field of HIV-AIDS. However the practical implications of operationalizing this, may pose challenging for most countries especially South Africa where the current ARV patients are set to double. This article reviews the ARV programme and explores its strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats amidst the many challenges that plague this country and sets the path for recommendations and best practises toward future successes.