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HIV/AIDS profile and realities at a regional antiretroviral therapy clinic in Jerusalem: 12 years analysis.
- Source :
- Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases; 2012, Vol. 44 Issue 1, p65-69, 5p, 1 Chart, 1 Graph
- Publication Year :
- 2012
-
Abstract
- The diagnosis of HIV, quality of follow-up, and treatment among immigrants are greatly influenced by cultural factors and access to the healthcare system. Israel, an immigrant-based society, features 3 cardinal HIV-positive patient groups, namely non-immigrant Israelis, legal immigrants (mainly from Ethiopia), and illegal African work-immigrants. While the first 2 groups are covered by a national health insurance, the latter group depends on an unstructured system of antiretroviral therapy (ART) supply. In the early 1990s, a national mentoring programme was implemented for legal immigrants. The programme involves community-based Ethiopian mentors who follow HIV-positive Ethiopians. In this retrospective cohort study we reviewed the files of HIV-positive patients diagnosed between 1995 and 2007, focusing on comparison between HIV-positive non-immigrant populations with both legal Ethiopian immigrants and the often overlooked illegal immigrants. Our results point to a substantial rate of loss to follow-up among the illegal immigrants. When comparing non-immigrants to legal immigrants, both feature similar adherence to follow-up, exposure and response to ART, despite profound cultural differences. Our results suggest that ethnic-related obstacles in HIV diagnosis and treatment may be overcome by 'cultural mediators', yet, addressing the silent mass of HIV-positive illegal work-immigrants, who are deprived of such programme benefits, poses a major challenge to Western health authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- DRUG therapy for AIDS
AIDS epidemiology
ANTIRETROVIRAL agents
HIV infection epidemiology
IMMIGRANTS
AIDS
ANALYSIS of variance
BLOOD cell count
CHI-squared test
DRUG resistance
HIV infections
HEALTH outcome assessment
PATIENT compliance
RACE
STATISTICAL hypothesis testing
T cells
T-test (Statistics)
VIRAL load
TREATMENT effectiveness
REPEATED measures design
RETROSPECTIVE studies
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00365548
- Volume :
- 44
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 69845680
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3109/00365548.2011.608713