Waiting to die: staging of HIV positive people at the first HIV test - Region A, Nelson Mandela Metropole (January 1991-April 2000)

Abstract

This project suggested that HIV people in Region A (Nelson Mandela Metropole, formerly Port Elizabeth) health district of the Eastern Cape, seek HIV testing when they are already in stages three (late disease) and four (AIDS) of HIV infection. Data had been obtained from the AIDS Training Information and Counselling Centre in the Nelson Mandela Metropole in 2000. The consequences of diagnoses only in the advanced stages of HIV infection will have a devastating impact on case management. Therefore, this paper yielded important data for South African policy makers to write health and welfare policies that might improve the quality of life of those terminally infected with HIV.