A diagnosis made by the organizations Sí, Da Vida and Onusida Peru revealed that up to February of this year 16 Venezuelans with HIV have died due to the difficulties they encounter in accessing antiretroviral treatment (ART).
According to this report, cited by Perú 21, some of the causes of death of these 16 people have to do with the difficulty to pay for the prerequisites to start the free antiretroviral treatment, which can reach up to 300 soles.
“To this, expenses are added for consults that range between 10 and 25 soles. These are difficult amounts to achieve for migrants living in poverty or unemployment”, the aforementioned website said.
Among other difficulties are that some health centers require new tests for HIV diagnosis, which are not free and that medical expenses sometimes can reach up to 9,000 soles if hospitalization is needed if the person reaches the AIDS phase.
“The lack of money to benefit from health services makes people go when it is already too late and there is not much you can do”, Marlon Castillo, representative of Sí, da Vida said. He told Perú 21 that the best solution to this is to ask for help from an NGO or from social assistance to reduce their hospital debts.
It is estimated that to date about 1,700 Venezuelan citizens that live in Peru have access to antiretroviral treatment for HIV control, 90% of which are in Lima and Callao. This amount only represents between 3 and 4% of the total number of people, among Peruvians and migrants, in the TAR program.
“This figure does not affect the provision and delivery of medicines and supplies, the report clarified”, as you can read in Perú 21.
Cover Photo Fshoq!
