Medical Care

At the end of December 2009, 3 033 PLHAs are followed at the outpatient department (OPD), where they can benefit of medical consultations (see OPD activities), drug education and psychosocial support (link). All along its follow up, each patient will be taken in charge by the same team composed of 1 Medical Doctor (MD), 1 Drug Educator (DE), and 1 Pharmacist. If needed, laboratory technicians take samples sent for analysis to 2 laboratories twice a day. The 18 bed-Inpatient Department (IPD) receives patients referred by the OPD (see IPD activities). The main Opportunistic Infection faced by MDs at OPD and IPD is Tuberculosis. The MDs of the centre have been among the first ones to take care of PLHAs in Cambodia, and thus have a long experience in HIV /AIDS management (by following national and international guidelines) that they can share through different governmental programmes (technical working group, conference, and training). All the services delivered at the centre are free of charge.

Drug Education

Given the crucial role of adherence in antiretroviral therapy success, a particular attention has been paid to the Drug Education. Drug educators (DE) explain patients how to take correctly the drugs, especially the antiretroviral therapy (ART), and how important it is to be adherent to get the best results from the treatment. In that perspective, the DE explores what could be the best timing of drug taking according to each patient’s daily schedule and lifestyle. All along the follow-up, the DE checks patient adherence at each visit through pill count and calculates its adherence rate. In case of non adherence episode, the DE organizes a meeting gathering the patient, its MD, its counselor and himself in order to remove obstacles hindering proper adherence.

FEW FIGURES (2004 - 2009)

OI COHORT: Patient receiving treatment and/or prevention for Opportunistic Infections only (not yet eligible for ARV)