A second chance when the drugs don't work

A second chance when the drugs don't work in Cuba

Published 08 February 2010

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  Oscar takes antiretroviral drugs financed by the Global Fund. This treatment is his lifeline because the drugs available through the national health service were not working for him.
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  Oscar (left) lives with his partner Ramón in an apartment in Havana. Both are HIV-positive.
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  Oscar was diagnosed with the virus in 1998. In 2000 he started treatment for AIDS.
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  Oscar's partner Ramón (left) was diagnosed with HIV in 1998 and began receiving antiretroviral therapy in 2002. Seven years later and the same, locally manufactured drugs are still working for him.
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  Oscar developed resistance to the treatment, despite following it consistently. He became very ill and had to leave his job in a tobacco factory. He almost died.
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  In 2003 Oscar started to take second-line antiretrovirals, which are procured with the help of Global Fund finance from abroad. His health has improved dramatically.
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  Oscar is encouraged to take his treatment by his partner Ramón. Ramón is qualified to monitor AIDS treatment through his voluntary work at the National Prevention Center.
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  Oscar and Ramón have formed a support group for people living with HIV in their neighborhood. The community helped Oscar when he was sick and now offers support to others.
Oscar’s drugs stopped working and he was at death’s door. Even though he’d followed his prescription of daily pills to prevent AIDS-related infections, his body still built up resistance to the drugs and the treatment became ineffective. He lost a lot of weight and suffered nerve damage.

When standard antiretrovirals fail there is a backup available in the so-called second-line antiretrovirals, but these are much more expensive – partly because they must be imported. In Cuba the Global Fund assists the national program by financing the provision of second-line antiretrovirals for around 4,300 people with advanced HIV infection. The availability of this treatment for free helps save lives that would otherwise be lost.

Oscar’s partner Ramón is also HIV-positive but his body shows no signs of resistance so far to the locally produced first-line drugs. He works in a lithography shop and volunteers with the National AIDS Prevention Center where he qualified to monitor AIDS treatment. When he gets home he supervises Oscar’s treatment.

Oscar’s health was turned around by the new drugs according Ramón. “I have to say that the last therapy given by the Global Fund is the one that suited him best, that did him good,” he says.

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A second chance when the drugs don't work in Cuba