| Short Summary | | Title | Assessment of Equity in the Uptake of Anti-retrovirals in Malawi | | Author | Muula, A and Kataika, E | | Publication Date | April 2008 | | Publisher | Regional network for Equity in Health in East and southern Africa | | Summary Source | Adapted from the source. | | Summary | Malawi, like the rest of southern Africa, has a high adult HIV prevalence. In 2004, the government of Malawi committed itself to providing free HIV treatment - or antiretroviral therapy (ART) - to all patients. The study presented in this paper was carried out to assess equity in the uptake of antiretroviral therapy in Malawi in 2005 according to age, gender and income levels. The study found that men and children are under-represented in the Malawi HIV treatment programme. While there were almost equal proportions of women and men on treatment prior to 2004 when treatment had to be paid for, free treatment has resulted in higher numbers of women on ART than men. In part this is due to higher infection rates among women. However, respondents also pointed to the fact that women had greater contact with the health system through maternity services and childcare facilities, creating more opportunities for them to access HIV testing and treatment. Respondents nonetheless believed that as treatment programmes mature, the gender disparities in the proportion of patients accessing treatment will diminish as more men would become educated about ART through the women in their lives.
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