The HAART Project

Antiretroviral therapy for sick children and adults
HOPE Cape Town was one of the first organisations in South Africa to initiate antiretroviral therapy for HIV positive children and caregivers some years ago.  Families, primarily from Germany, sponsored the treatment of a person for a year.  HOPE Cape Town employed a part-time doctor to treat, adapt medication and monitor the progress of the patients.

In the beginning, HOPE Cape Town wanted to help as many children as possible.  However, HOPE Cape Town learnt that there had to be selection criteria for inclusion on the programme as many children were too weak to benefit from the medication.  There were very difficult decisions to make for the people concerned with this part of the program.

From the beginning there was the careful scientific documentation of all the patients on the merits and also side effects of the treatment.  The data was given to the Children’s Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Unit (KID-CRU) based at Tygerberg Hospital. The results from KID-CRU research were instrumental in the development of the government antiretroviral treatment programmes. 

The last 19 patients were transferred into care of the provincial authorities in December 2007. The HOPE Cape Town doctor continues to support the role out in seeing patients who are developing complications.      

HAART Therapy - Hope for the future
The Community Health Workers are assisting the government programme as compliance officers ensuring the effective treatment of HIV positive people. As HOPE Cape Town understands itself as an organisation and fills in the gaps in governmental approaches, the question of compliance and adherence will be a focal point in the years to come.  HOPE Cape Town will leave the handing out of medication to the provincial administration which it is able to do with the help of foreign donors.















© 2000 - 2011
HOPE Cape Town Association
Public Benefit Organisation (SA) No 18/11/13/4709
Non Profit Organisation (SA) No 031-599NPO