South African pharmacists will be able to prescribe drugs for the country’s two most deadly infectious diseases, HIV and tuberculosis, as the nation at the foot of the continent tries to better manage both epidemics.
The plan, which recently got approval from a high court, will allow chemists that are registered with the initiative to treat patients. Until now, only doctors have been able to do that.
This helps to “provide integrated primary healthcare to a greater number of consumers,” said Tanya Ponter, executive manager at drug store chain Dis-Chem Pharmacies Ltd. Not only will it improve access, but will reduce costs, she said.
South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world, accounting for nearly one in five people living with the disease globally. It also has one of the highest global incidence rates of notified tuberculosis, with an estimated 304,000 people having caught TB in South Africa in 2021, according to the World Health Organization. More than half of those are living with HIV.
Medications mostly used for both diseases have to be taken daily to be properly effective. Still, South Africa’s state clinics — which are free at the point of access — regularly have long queues and those seeking care may meet harassed and overworked staff, said Linda-Gail Bekker, chief operating officer of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation. Private doctors are often too expensive for many of those needing treatment.
“Giving alternative points of health service delivery can overcome this barrier,” she said.
