Antiretrovirals like dolutegravir help keep people healthy. But their use adds to global warming, which drives climate change and can make us sick in the long run.
Experts say switching to medicines used in smaller amounts and less often, such as long-acting anti-HIV shots like cabotegravir, could help to lower the health sectors contribution to climate change.
But we dont have enough of them yet. Heres what this means and what we need to change it.
In todays newsletter , Sipokazi Fokazi and Zano Kunene ask if SA can afford climate-friendly ARVs. Sign up for our newsletter today.
The anti-HIV drug dolutegravir DTG for short is part of the worlds arsenal to end Aids as a public health threat by 2030 .
But getting the antiretroviral ARV drug to 24-million people with HIV who use dolutegravir as part of their entry-level treatment across the world about 5.1-million live in South Africa, according to the health departments figures doesnt come without a cost to the environment, shows a report from the United Nations-linked health innovation programme Unitaid .
When people stick to taking their ARVs DTG is one of three drugs in a three-in-one pill for people with HIV the level of HIV in their bodies becomes so low that they cant transmit the virus to someone else through unprotected sex.
This is called being virally suppressed , and is part of the so-called 95-95-95 United Nations goals. This strategy says that to stop Aids, 95 of people should know whether they have HIV, of those who test positive 95 should be on treatment, and of that group, 95 should be virally suppressed.
