Photograph — news.wjct.com

Today, at the 2016 International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, an antiretroviral drug dispensing machine is set to be unveiled in preparation “of a pilot scheme that will see units installed in rural areas miles from the nearest doctor or clinic.”

It is believed that the £63,000 machine will be a game changer in the fight against HIV both within and outside South Africa. The ADM (Automated/Anti-retroviral Drug Machine) was developed at the Helen Joseph hospital, Johannesburg by a non-profit organisation, Right to Care.

After the unveiling today, the pilot for the ePharmacy project will take off with the installation of four ADMs in one of South Africa’s poorest towns, Alexandra, “where high rates of poverty and lack of education keep infection rates and ignorance about HIV, high.”

Patients are to withdraw their medication from the machines by simply scanning their smartcard IDs, provided they come with a power source. If necessary, they will also be connected to a health centre, via webcam, with a pharmacist on call. This will save patients a good amount of time, money and energy in transporting themselves all the way to a hospital and then waiting hours to receive their medication.

To avoid issues relating to stigmatisation, the machines will not only be dispensing antiretroviral drugs but also medication for patients with tuberculosis and diabetes.

With the invention of rapid test kits, getting tested for HIV is gradually becoming a problem of the past, leaving room for an advancement to the next phase – treatment. However, simply receiving medication alone will not suffice; patients have to adhere strictly to their treatment or risk being highly infectious since viral suppression will be limited.

The need for such an innovation arises as adherence to treatment has become an issue in the fight to contain the infection. Dr. Sello Mashamaite, the medical manager at Helen Joseph, told The Guardian that working with such technological innovations will save lives as a lot of patients miss their visits due to a number of reasons; work, costs of transportation, and long queues at health facilities. All of these factors make it difficult for patients to adhere to treatment regimens.

The antiretroviral drug dispensers are a major boost to the “treatment by prevention” strategy aimed at offering immediate treatment to patients following diagnoses, as they bring the treatment closer home.

Since South Africa has the highest number of people – 5.7 million – living with HIV-Aids, and has the highest prevalence of the virus compared to any other country in the world, it has become crucial to tackle and contain the spread of the virus on all fronts. This is why organisations like Right To Care are committed to providing support for the treatment, care and prevention of HIV by developing ground-breaking solutions like the ADM.

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