The Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) – Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social, in Spanish – says it has achieved an 85% success in the treatment of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) – Síndrome de Inmunodeficiencia Adquirida (SIDA), in Spanish.
This is because a vast majority of the infected patients are consistent with their medical regime.
CCSS program coordinator, Gloria Terwes, calls this “adherence”.
The program battling HIV invovs specilaists in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, psychiatry, psychology, socila work and nutrition, providing a comprehensive care to patients.
Costa Rica has six HIV clinics, which in addition provide comprehensive care to patients with drug addictions, psychiatric problems, depression and the lack of social networks and family support.
One the clinics is located in the San Juan de Dios hospital in downtown San José, where about 1.200 HIV patients recieve treatment. San Juan de Dios linic coordinator, Carmen Vargas, explained that the high rate of adhesion is due to the formatio of interdisciplinary teams in clinics.
At the San Juan de Dios clinic, teams make home visits in cases where patients cannot come to the medical centre, misses appointments or is experiencing family problems affecting treatment.
According to official data from the Ministry of Health, each year there are 700 new case of HIV in Costa Rica. At San Juan de Dios, they had 218 new cases last year alone, a 20% increase over the previous year,
Ministry of Health officias say the numbers of infected has dropped over the last five years, however, they are seen a rising trend in new cases.
OK, 700 new cases per year, yet numbers of infected are dropping. Does that mean that more than 700 per year are dying, or that the virus is being completely eradicated in a significant number of cases? This article isn’t as well-written as most you post, so it is not clear what is meant by “treatment rate” or “success rate.” Generally, a treatment rate would suggest the number of diagnosed HIV patients complying with a treatment plan. A “success” rate could mean the number who have responded positively by being less symptomatic or the number of patients “cured” or completely disease-free. I really don’t know how to interpret this information.