标题：Technical support by Solthis for health-care workers in order to decentralise medical treatment for people living with HIV in the Ségou region of Mali
摘要：Medical treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS started in Mali as early as
1997 thanks to civil society. The national response was officialised by the
adoption of the Malian Initiative for Access to Antiretroviral
Therapy (Initiative Malienne d'Accès aux Antirétroviraux
IMAARV). In 2004 ART, drugs against opportunistic infections and
basic biological monitoring were made available free of charge by decree.
In 2005, decentralisation of health-care to regions and circles became one
of the main thrusts of the national strategy for the fight against the
pandemic.
Sub-Saharan African countries are making significant efforts to provide full
geographical coverage of their national territory.
It is in this "scaling-up" context that the Solthis NGO (Solidarité
Thérapeutique et Initiatives contre le Sida) began cooperating with
Malian actors to extend access to quality treatment for patients living with
HIV/AIDS in the city and region of Ségou. Based on a developmental
approach, Solthis opted for continuing in situ technical support for
national actors in the fight against AIDS. Thanks to the daily presence of a
team "in the field" Solthis devotes a large part of its activities to
capacity-building for health-care workers through an exchange of medical and
scientific expertise.
Efforts were also made to improve health-care workers' working conditions
and to make various tests and drugs accessible to patients infected with
HIV.
The initial aim was to encourage universal access to ART. Today, the
Ségou programme supported by Solthis has developed over 1500 new
treatments in the region. In addition, every PMTCT centre in the region
offers prevention and treatment services to mothers and children. Today, the
Ségou region is an integral part of the IMAARV initiative as a
decentralisation pilot project.
