HAART Programme
Continuity
The Heineken - PharmAccess
Contributions to the XV international AIDS Conference
July 11 - 16, 2004 Bangkok,Thailand
Heineken
International
SIDA
based on prevention and treatment. In African breweries, for
example, free condoms are made available to all Heineken
personnel. Employees can have themselves tested free of charge
and they and their family members can obtain free treatment and
personal guidance at Heineken clinics.
The HAART programme is a successful treatment scheme for
HIV/AIDS. HAART means Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy. It is
a treatment that suppresses or stops a retrovirus. The human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, is a retrovirus.
Since September 2001 Heineken has been making HAART
available to local employees in its breweries in Africa.
Preparation and implementation are taking place under a
partnership with the Dutch NGO PharmAccess Foundation.
PharmAccess supplies the necessary know-how and negotiates
with the pharmaceutical industry so as to have branded
antiretrovirals at Heineken's disposal. Training of medical
personnel, upgrading and quality control of service laboratories
and evaluation and operational research projects are organised
and implemented by PharmAccess, Heineken Health Affairs and
other partners, thus demonstrating how the concept of private
and public sector partnershipworks in practice.
Currently the Heineken HAART programme is operational in
Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-Brazzaville,
Nigeria, Ghana and Cambodia. An indication of the results of the
treatment can be obtained from Brarudi, a Heineken brewery in
Burundi. Burundi has high seroprevalence (19.8%) in urban areas.
Only few people living with AIDS can afford antiretroviral therapy.
Since September 2001, Brarudi - assisted by Heineken - has
begun a HAART programme. HAART is given to 42 workers and
dependants medically eligible for treatment. The follow up is
done by the company doctor and is facilitated by a database. If a
patient misses his appointment, the database alerts the medical
staff. 39 of the 42 (93%) patients showed good clinical evolution
since the start of the programme. Three patients did not survive
the disease, possibly due to the late start of the treatment.
In order to support local medical staff, Heineken and PharmAcces
developed an information system, which is currently running in
nineteen sites in Africa and Asia and four sites in Europe. It has
become the online tailor-made way of medical education and
ensures continuity and uniformity of treatment in all Heineken
medical centres. And it helps to ensure that Heineken is able to
implement HAART even in poor and poorly equipped regions.
Therefore, with the presentation of its HAART experiences at the
fifteenth International AIDS Conference, Heineken encouraged
other private companies to use HAART to their advantage as well.
