Specialised HIV pharmacies
Walgreen a pharmacy in the US specialises in the provision of pharmaceutical services to people living with HIV. This has led to debate on the use of specialised HIV community pharmacies. A study conducted in the US shows that users of HIV-specialised Walgreen pharmacies proved significantly greater adherence to (the degree to which patients follow their prescribed drug regimen) and persistence with their therapeutic drug regimens (the time to treatment discontinuation). In these pharmacies the staff were specially trained to provide HIV services helping HIV infected individuals to be more compliant with their ARV drug.
Now taking this back to my country, statistics reveal that an estimated 1.3 million people are living with HIV in Zimbabwe making it one in every ten is HIV positive of the over 12 million estimated population. Zimbabwe whose prevalence rate is high in Africa, still has what I will call a ‘black corridor syndrome’ in regards to HIV and AIDS. In this black corridor syndrome I mean many people living with HIV keep their HIV status a secret and some even go to the extent of hiding it from their partners. In this black corridor people try to get their ART treatment in the darkest places possible without anyone finding out. They visit private doctors and some import their ART drugs not only because they can afford to, but also because they want to keep their HIV status unknown. People who suffer from this black corridor syndrome take their drugs behind a closed door or change containers that carry their drugs. All this is done to keep it as a secret as much as possible.
In such a society where people living with HIV shun disclosing their status, it means walking into a specialised HIV pharmacy will therefore not be an easy thing. Not that I am pre-judging already but if one is seen walking into such a pharmacy anyone who sees him or her will assume they are HIV positive. In the end it will mean that using services provided by HIV specialised pharmacies will be equivalent to disclosing your status. I believe in these pharmacies because through specialization they are able to meet the needs of people living with HIV hence increasing their patient outcomes. But at the same time I am concerned of certain factors. Won’t it be segregation towards HIV positive people and what of HIV negative users? It’s a battlefield of the mind already and would Zimbabweans embrace specialised HIV pharmacies?