I thought you might like to see how we test people for malaria and HIV. The photo shows a box with a mosquito on top of it. Inside are the small malaria testing devices, each about two inches long and a half-inch wide. A finger stick will yield a drop of blood that is placed on the kit and after about 20 minutes a red line in the center will confirm a malaria infection. The Uni-Gold HIV test device operates in a similar way.
One of our Clinical Officers (similar to a Physician’s Assistant in the US) is in charge of ordering all supplies and medicines for our mobile clinics. These are obtained from Malawi pharmacy supply stores. The per-unit cost of the malaria kit is only 67 cents, and that of the HIV test kit is $1.83. Once purchased, these are kept in our secured office building until conveyed to a storage site 90 minutes south by vehicle, close to where our three mobile clinics can be re-supplied.
When someone’s rapid test confirms malaria, they are immediately treated by our Clinical Officer. If the patient appears to have cerebral malaria, she or he is immediately transported to the district hospital for intravenous treatment with quinine.
When a rapid test shows an HIV infection, the individual is sent to a government health center or to the district hospital for a confirmatory HIV test and a treatment evaluation. If a machine called a CD4 counter is available and functioning properly, its analysis enables a relatively simple decision whether or not to put the patient immediately on an anti-HIV medication. The alternative would be to lag the therapy until later in accordance with Health Ministry guidelines pertaining to the relative scarcity of anti-HIV medications in the country.
Dame Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor died on March 23. She funded all our mobile clinics, their staffs, their test kits and medications. Not for that alone, but for her brave, effective, persistent, and tenacious commitments to the struggle against HIV we deeply mourn her passing. Requiescat in Pace.
William Rankin