Opinion Paper

The need for a Rehabilitation Model to address the disparities of public healthcare for people living with HIV in South Africa

Verusia Chetty, Jill Hanass-Hancock
African Journal of Disability | Vol 4, No 1 | a137 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ajod.v4i1.137 | © 2015 Verusia Chetty, Jill Hanass-Hancock | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 06 June 2014 | Published: 08 June 2015

About the author(s)

Verusia Chetty, Discipline of Physiotherapy, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Jill Hanass-Hancock, Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

Rehabilitation in the context of HIV management in Africa is still a neglected field which holds great promise for the improvement of the quality of life as well as integration of people living with HIV back into their communities and homes. However, rehabilitation has not been incorporated into HIV care despite the fact that a large number of people living with HIV experience disability. The dearth of literature and lack of models of care to roll out rehabilitation for people living with HIV in Africa are astounding. Well-resourced countries have emerging approaches on the management of disability in the context of HIV. However, epidemic countries are still lacking such an approach neglecting the devastating effects of disability on individual livelihoods and antiretroviral treatment adherence. Thus, rehabilitation needs to be integrated into the response to HIV. This article advocates for the development and implementation of a model of care to guide rehabilitation of people living with HIV in South Africa.

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Crossref Citations

1. A Home-Based Rehabilitation Intervention for Adults Living With HIV: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Saul Cobbing, Jill Hanass-Hancock, Hellen Myezwa
Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care  vol: 28  issue: 1  first page: 105  year: 2017  
doi: 10.1016/j.jana.2016.08.008