Antiretroviral therapy and early morality in South Africa

Objective To describe province-wide outcomes and temporal trends of the Western Cape Province antiretroviral treatment (ART) programme 5 years since inception, and to demonstrate the utility of the WHO monitoring system-for ART. Methods The treatment programme started in 2001 through innovator sites. Rapid scaling-up of ART provision began early in 2004, located predominantly in primary-care facilities. Data on patients starting ART were prospectively captured into facility-based registers, from which monthly cross-sectional activity and quarterly cohort reports were aggregated. Retention in care, mortality, loss to follow-up and laboratory outcomes were calculated at 6-monthly durations on ART. Findings By the end of March 2006, 16 234 patients were in care. The cohort analysis included 12 587 adults and 1709 children. Women accounted for 70% of adults enrolled. After 4 and 3 years on ART respectively, 72.0% of adults (95% confidence interval, Cl: 68.0-75.6) and 81.5% (95% Cl: 75.7-86.1) of children remained in care. The percentage of adults starting ART with CD4 counts less than 50 cells/mu l fell from 51.3% in 2001 to 21.5% in 2005, while mortality at 6 months fell from 12.7% to 6.6%, offset in part by an increase in loss to follow-up (reaching 4.7% at 6 months in 2005). Over 85% of adults tested had viral loads below 400 copies/ml at 6-monthly durations until 4 years on ART. Conclusion The location of care in primary-care sites in this programme was associated with good retention in care, while the scaling-up of ART provision was associated with reduced early mortality.